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t: — 3^ 


COLLECTIONS 


r^      DEC  14 1911      ^ 

NEW  JEESEY^"^*^^"' 


HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 


^  'xt 


• 

1 

V^UME   III. 

• 

PRINTED    FOR    THE 

NEW 

JERSEY  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY 

1849. 

'    ^  '  ^i  #  #     "^ 


^     / 


#        •V)I^FI(gERS 


NEW  JERSEY  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

1848. 


Hgn.  JOSEPH  C.  HORNBLOWER,  LL.  D  ,  President,  Newark. 
ROBERT  G.  JOHNSON,  Esq.,  1st  Vice  President,  Salem. 
Hon.  peter  D.  VROOM,  2d  "  Trenton. 

Hon.  JAMES  PARKER,  3d  "  Perth  Amloy. 

WILLIAM  A.  WHITEHEAD,  Corresponding  Secretary,  Newark. 
DAVID  A.  HAYES,  Recording  Secretary,  Newark. 
SAMUEL  H.  PENNINGTON,  M.  D.,  Librarian,  Newark. 
JAMES  ROSS,  Treasurer,  Newark. 


EXECUTIVE   COMMITTEE. 


Rev.  NICHOLAS  MURRAY,  D.  D.,  Chairman,  Elizahethtown. 

Rev.  DANIEL  V.  McLEAN,  D.  '^,  Freehold. 

WILLIAM  B.  KINNEY,  Newark. 

ARCHER  GIFFORD,  Newark. 

STACY  G.  POTTS,  Trenton. 

Rev.  JOHN  MACLEAN,  D.  D.,  Pri^gon.  ^ 

LITTLETON  KIRKPATRICK,  NeiFirunswick.       , 

Rt.  Rev.  GEO.  W.  DOANE,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Burlington. 

ELIAS  B.  D.  OGDEN,  Paterson. 


COMMITTEE    ON   PUBLICATION. 

Hon.  WILLIAM  A.  DUER,  LL.  D. 
Rev.  NICHOLAS  MURRAY,  D.  D. 
CHARLES  KING. 
Rev.  ELI  F.  COOLEY. 
WILLIAM  B.  KINNEY. 
WILLIAM  A.  WHITEHEAD. 


PROVINCIAL  COURTS  OF  NEW  JERSEY. 


w^, 


New       deriey      hisVor-icexi'     iociefy 


THE 


PROVINCIAL   COURTS 


OF 


NEW  JEKSEY, 


WITH 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  BENCH  AND  BAE. 
A    DISCOURSE, 

READ    BEFORE    THE    NEW    JERSEY    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY, 

BY 

RICHARD  S.  FIELD. 


NEW- YORK : 

PUBLISHED    FOR    THE    SOCIETY, 

BY  BARTLETT  &  WELFORD. 

1849. 


Entered,  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1848, 

By  Richard  S.  Field, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  U.  S.  District  Court  for  the  District  of  the  State 
of  New  Jersey. 


Leavitt,  Trow  &  Co.,  Printers, 
49  Ann-street,  New-York. 


PREFACE. 


The  following  Paper  was  prepared  at  the  request  of 
the  Executive  Committee  of  the  New  Jersey  Historical 
Society.  A  portion  of  it  was  read  at  the  annual  meeting 
in  Trenton,  on  the  twentieth  of  January,  1848,  and  the 
residue  at  a  meeting  in  Newark,  on  the  twenty-fifth  of 
May  following.  It  was  written  without  the  slightest  view 
to  its  being  published,  at  least  in  its  present  form.  While 
it  was  hoped,  that  it  would  not  be  altogether  without  value 
in  the  eyes  of  my  professional  brethren,  to  whom  it  was 
more  particularly  addressed,  it  was  not  supposed  that  the 
subject  was  one  in  which  the  public  at  large  could  be  made 
to  take  much  interest.  The  Society,  however,  having  re- 
quested a  copy  for  publication,  I  have  not  felt  myself  at 
liberty  to  withhold  it. 

My  object  has  been,  not  so  much  to  bring  together 
what  is  already  known,  with  regard  to  our  Courts,  and  the 
character  of  those  who  have  figured  on  the  Bench  and  at 
the  Bar,  as  to  rescue  from  the  past  such  scattered  memo- 
rials of  them  as  were  in  danger  of  perishing  for  ever.     I 


Vlll 


PREFACE. 


have  confined  my  researches  therefore  entirely  to  our  Pro- 
vincial Courts,  and  Colonial  judges  and  lawyers  are  the 
only  ones  whose  characters  I  have  attempted  to  sketch. 
To  those,  whose  attention  has  been  turned  to  the  subject, 
I  need  scarcely  say,  how  slender  are  the  materials  which 
exist  for  such  a  work,  and  how  meagre  are  the  accounts 
which  have  come  down  to  us,  even  of  those  who  were  the 
most  distinguished  in  the  early  periods  of  our  history.  We 
know  more,  I  suspect,  of  the  early  settlers  of  Massachu- 
setts and  Virginia,  than  we  do  of  those  who  first  planted 
the  Colony  of  New  Jersey.  I  am  sure  we  know  more  of 
the  lawyers  and  judges  of  England  prior  to  the  American 
Revolution,  than  we  do  of  those  of  our  own  State.  We 
are  much  more  familiar  with  the  personages  who  graced 
the  Court  of  Queen  Anne,  than  with  those  who  flourished 
here  at  the  same  time  under  the  rule  of  her  kinsman  Lord 
Cornbury. 

I  have  been  astonished  too  to  find,  how  few  of  the 
names  of  distinguished  Jerseymen  are  to  be  met  with 
in  the  American  Biographical  dictionaries.  While  they 
abound  with  ample  notices  of  second  and  third  rate  men 
of  other  sections  of  the  country,  those  who  have  been  truly 
eminent  among  us,  seldom  find  a  place  in  them.  The  truth 
is,  our  Biographical  dictionaries  have,  for  the  most  part, 
been  written  by  New  England  men,  and,  as  it  would  seem, 
for  New  England.  We  ought  to  have  a  Biographical 
dictionary  of  our  own,  and  it  may  be  worthy  of  considera- 
tion, whether  a  work  of  this  description  should  not  be 
undertaken  under  the  auspices  of  our  Historical  Society. 
But  we  have  no  right  to  complain  of  others,  for  not 


PREFACE.  ix 

cherishing  the  memory  of  our  distinguished  men.  The 
fault  is  our  own.  We  have  never  been  true  to  ourselves. 
We  have  suffered  the  brightest  names  in  our  annals  to  grow 
dim,  and  the  memory  of  our  most  glorious  deeds  to  become 
almost  effaced.  While  there  is  so  much  in  our  past  history, 
and  in  our  present  condition,  for  which  we  should  be  grate- 
ful, and  in  which  we  have  a  right  to  exult,  yet  we  have  very 
little  State  pride ;  and  while  we  have  been  distinguished, 
beyond  most  others,  for  devotion  to  our  common  country, 
and  loyalty  to  the  Union,  we  have  never  exhibited  much 
local  patriotism.  These,  I  am  aware,  are  qualities,  which 
may  easily  be  carried  to  excess.  They  are  virtues,  which 
are  perhaps  nearly  allied  to  vices ;  but  they  are  virtues 
still,  and,  to  a  certain  extent,  deserve  to  be  strengthened 
and  fostered. 

What  we  more  especially  need  at  this  time,  is  a  well 
written  history  of  our  State.  Mr.  Whitehead's  work  is 
invaluable,  as  far  as  it  goes ;  but  it  is  confined  to  East 
Jersey,  and  comes  down  only  to  the  surrender  of  the  gov- 
ernment to  the  crown,  in  1702.  When  shall  we  have  an 
equally  faithful  and  accurate  history  of  the  whole  State, 
from  its  first  settlement  to  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution 
of  1844?  Such  a  work  remains  to  be  written,  and  when 
it  is,  it  will  be  found,  if  I  mistake  not,  to  possess  an  interest, 
which  has  never  been  thought  to  attach  to  the  annals  of 
our  State.  Bancroft,  in  his  History  of  the  United  States, 
has  touched  upon  the  affairs  of  New  Jersey  just  enough 
to  show,  how  attractive  they  are  capable  of  being  made  in 
the  hands  of  a  man  of  taste  and  genius. 

Take,  for  instance,  the  settlement  of  West  Jersey  by 


X  PREFACE. 

the  Quakers.  What  a  beautiful  picture  would  it  not  pre- 
sent, if  drawn  by  the  pen  of  a  master !  West  Jersey  under 
its  Proprietary  Government  was,  in  fact,  what  Pennsylva- 
nia was  only  in  name,  a  pure  Quaker  Commonwealth.  It 
may  be  safely  affirmed,  that  William  Penn  himself  had 
more  to  do  in  moulding  the  institutions  of  West  Jersey, 
that  his  spirit  was  more  deeply  infused  into  them,  and  that 
they  reflected  more  clearly  the  pure  and  benign  features 
of  his  character,  than  did  those  of  the  State  which  bore 
his  name.  In  Pennsylvania,  his  views  were  often  sadly 
thwarted,  and  his  gentle  sway  was  regarded  with  a  jeal- 
ousy and  distrust,  which  it  is  difficult  for  us  at  this  day  to 
understand.  But  in  West  Jersey,  his  influence  was  su- 
preme, his  benevolent  disposition  was  allowed  free  scope, 
and  he  was  the  object  of  unbounded  love  and  confidence. 
Her  Concessions  and  Agreements,  her  fundamental  laws 
and  Constitution,  were  nearly  all  the  work  of  his  hand  ; 
all  bear  the  impress  of  his  character. 

So  too  the  Revolutionary  history  of  New  Jersey ;  how 
full  of  exciting  scenes,  how  rich  in  thrilling  incidents 
would  it  be !  The  sacrifices  made  by  New  Jersey,  in 
blood  and  treasure,  during  the  war  of  Independence,  were 
greater,  in  proportion  to  her  wealth  and  population,  than 
those  of  any  other  Colony.  The  fury  of  the  storm  first 
burst  upon  her,  and  her  territory  was  speedily  overrun  by 
hordes  of  foreign  mercenaries.  Within  her  borders  were 
the  most  memorable,  and  the  most  glorious  battle-grounds 
of  the  Revolution.  She  was  enveloped  in  the  darkest 
clouds  of  the  contest,  and  the  first  gleams  of  a  brighter  day 
dawned   upon   her.     Here   Washington   encountered  his 


PREFACE. 


XI 


deepest  distresses,  and  sustained  his  heaviest  misfortunes ; 
but  here  too  he  made  his  most  briUiant  movements,  and 
achieved  his  proudest  triumphs.  This  is  a  chapter  in 
American  history  which  has  never  yet  been  written,  but 
which  we  may  hope  soon  to  see  from  the  pen  of  Mr. 
Bancroft. 

I  cannot  close  these  prefatory  remarks,  without  ac- 
knowledging the  many  obligations  which  I  am  under  to 
Mr.  William  A.  Whitehead,  the  Corresponding  Secretary  of 
the  New  Jersey  Historical  Society,  for  the  valuable  assist- 
ance which  he  has  rendered  me  in  the  prosecution  of  my 
researches.  His  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  history  of 
New  Jersey,  has  enabled  him  to  furnish  me  with  much 
information  that  could  have  been  obtained  from  no  other 
source.  To  Mr.  Edward  Armstrong,  too,  the  Recording 
Secretary  of  the  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society,  I  am 
greatly  obliged.  To  the  copious  extracts  from  the  "  Logan 
Papers,"  with  which  he  has  so  kindly  furnished  me,  am  I 
indebted,  for  most  of  the  particulars  in  the  life  of  Roger 
Mompesson,  the  first  Chief  Justice  of  New  Jersey. 

Princeton,  New  Jersey,  Decemler  28lh,  1848. 


ERRATA. 

!  127,  line  17,  for  "  ever"  read  even. 
158,  line  12,  for  "  Smyth"  read  Smith. 
178  note,  for  " father"  read  uncle,  and  for  "son"  read  nephew. 


DISCOURSE. 


Gentlemen  of  the  Historical  Society  : 

In  consenting  to  prepare  for  the  use  of  the  His- 
torical Society  a  brief  history  of  the  Courts  of  New 
Jersey,  with  notices  of  some  of  the  more  distin- 
guished members  of  the  Bench  and  Bar,  nothing 
was  further  from  my  expectation  than  to  be  called 
upon  to  read  it  upon  such  an  occasion  as  this.^ 
Could  I  have  anticipated  such  an  audience,  I  might 
have  sought  a  more  attractive  theme  upon  which 
to  discourse — a  subject  the  discussion  of  which  I 
might  have  hoped  to  make  interesting  to  all — rather 
than  one  which  addresses  itself  in  a  pecuhar  manner 
to  the  members  of  a  single  profession.  And  yet,  in 
attempting  to  glean  from  the  history  of  the  past 
something  worthy  of  the  attention  of  this  Society, 


'  The  annual  meeting  of  the  New  popular  character,  than  the  Historical 
Jersey  Historical    Society,  at  which  papers  usually  read  before    the  So- 
il has  been  customary  for  an  address  ciety. 
to  be  delivered  of  a  somewhat  more 


2  ADMINISTRATION  OF  JUSTICE. 

I  would  have  felt  that  it  was  much  safer  for  me  to 
seek  for  it  along  those  paths  which  I  am  accus- 
tomed to  frequent,  rather  than  to  explore  fields  to 
me  new  and  untrodden,  and  where  I  could  hardly 
hope  to  find  any  thing  which  had  eluded  the  re- 
searches of  those  who  had  gone  before. 

But  however  little  there  may  be  in  the  subject 
of  my  discourse  to  interest  the  feelings  or  excite 
the  fancy,  let  me  not  be  understood  as  meaning  in 
the  slightest  degree  to  undervalue  its  importance. 
On  the  contrary,  I  am  persuaded,  there  is  no  por- 
tion of  the  history  of  our  State — rich  as  it  is  in  the 
materials  both  for  pleasant  and  profitable  medita- 
tion— in  the  study  of  which  we  can  be  more  use- 
fully employed,  or  in  the  contemplation  of  which 
we  can  feel  a  more  honest  pride,  than  in  that  which 
pertains  to  the  administration  of  justice.  The  story 
of  our  battle-fields,  the  recital  of  the  martial  deeds 
of  our  ancestors,  may  be  more  stirring ;  but  the 
feelings  which  such  scenes  awaken  are  transient, 
and  their  influence  has  long  since  ceased  to  be  felt. 
Whereas,  to  trace  to  their  source  the  growth  of 
laws  and  institutions  under  which  we  now  live ;  to 
look  at  the  foundations  upon  which  have  been 
raised  temples  of  justice  still  standing ;  and  to  ga- 
ther up  what  remains  of  the  life  and  character  of 
those  who  have  ministered  at  their  altars,  if  it  has 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  JUSTICE.  3 

less  to  excite,  will  yet  be  found  to  possess  a  pre- 
sent and  an  enduring  interest.  In  truth,  the  great 
end  for  which  all  government  is  instituted,  is  neither 
more  nor  less  than  the  administration  of  Justice. 
It  is  for  this,  that  men  consent  to  forego  the  exer- 
cise of  their  natural  rights,  and  to  submit  to  those 
restraints  which  society  imposes.  "He,"  says 
Lord  Brougham  in  his  celebrated  speech  on  law  re- 
form,^ "  He  was  guilty  of  no  error — he  was  charge- 
able  with  no  exaggeration — he  was  betrayed  by  his 
fancy  into  no  metaphor,  who  once  said,  that  all  we 
see  about  us.  King,  Lords,  and  Commons,  the  whole 
machinery  of  the  State,  all  the  apparatus  of  the 
system,  and  its  varied  workings,  end  in  simply 
bringing  twelve  good  men  into  a  box.""   And  if  this 

'  Delivered  in  the  House  of  Com-  Government.     "  We  are  therefore  to 

mons  February  7, 1828.  Lord  Brough-  look  upon  all  the  vast  apparatus  of 

flm's  Speeches,  II.  324.     An  Ameri-  our  government  as  having  ultimately 

can  lawyer  cannot  read  this  admira-  no  other  object  or  purpose  but   the 

ble  speech  without  being  led  to  re-  distribution    of  justice,   or   in   other 

mark,  that  most  of  the  improvements  words,    the    support    of   the    twelve 

which  are  suggested  in  the  state  of  judges.    Kings  and  parliaments,  fleets 

the  law,  and   the  method  of  proce-  and  armies,  officers  of  the  court  and 

dure  in  Courts  of  Justice,  had  alrea-  revenue,  ambassadors,  ministers,  and 

dy  been  adopted  in  this  country,  and  privy-counselors,  are  all  subordinate 

were    then    in   successful   operation,  in  their  end  to  this  part  of  administra- 

And  yet,  while  there  are  allusions  to  tion.     Even  the  clergy,  as  their  duty 

the  laws  of  so  many  other  countries  leads  them  to  inculcate  morality,  may 

scattered  throughout  the  speech,  there  justly  be  thought,  so  far  as  regards 

is  not   the  slightest  reference  to  the  this  world,  to  have  no  other  useful  ob- 

United  States.  ject  of  their  institution." — Hume's  Es- 

*  The  same  idea  is  expressed  by  says,  I.  63. 
Hume  in  his  Essay  on  the  Origin  of 


4  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  COURTS. 

be  true  in  any  sense  in  other  countries,  it  must  be 
emphatically  so  here,  where  we  may,  in  a  peculiar 
manner,  be  said  to  live  under  the  government  of 
law. 

The  history  of  New  Jersey  naturally  divides  it- 
self into  three  periods ;  from  the  first  settlement  by 
the  English  to  the  surrender  of  the  government  to 
the  crown ;  from  the  surrender  to  the  Revolution ; 
and  from  the  Revolution  to  the  present  time.  Or, 
in  other  words.  New  Jersey  is  to  be  viewed  under 
a  proprietary  government,  as  a  Colony,  and  as  a 
State.  It  is  to  the  period  which  preceded  the  sur- 
render, and  when  East  and  West  Jersey  were  un- 
der distinct  proprietary  governments,  that  we  are 
first  to  direct  our  attention. 

The  establishment  of  Courts  of  Justice  is  al- 
most coeval  with  the  first  settlement  of  the  State. 
While  in  the  more  populous  and  important  Pro- 
vince of  New  York,  we  find  Governor  Nichols,  dur- 
ing the  whole  of  his  administration,  deciding  alone, 
and  in  a  most  summary  way,  all  controversies  that 
arose  -^  in  East  Jersey,  on  the  other  hand,  consist- 


'  "  He  created,"  says  the  Historian  parties,  and  after  a  summary  hearing, 

of  New  York,  "  no  courts  of  justice,  pronounced  judgment.     His  determi- 

but  took  upon  himself  the  sole  deci-  nations  were  called  edicts,  and  exe- 

sion  of  all  controversies  whatsoever,  cuted  by  the  sheriffs  he  had  appoint- 

Complaints  came  before  him  by  peti-  ed," — Smith's  New  York,  55. 
tion,  upon  which  he  gave  a  day  to  the 


ESTABLISHMENT  OF  COURTS.  5 

ing  though  it  did  of  a  few  feeble  and  scattered 
settlements,  whose  only  security  against  the  inroads 
of  the  savage  was  in  the  respect  with  which  his  right 
to  the  soil  was  always  treated/  we  find  the  most 
ample  provision  made  for  the  distribution  of  justice 
between  man  and  man,  through  the  instrumentality 
of  Courts,  and  by  the  intervention  of  a  jury.  By 
the  concessions  of  Berkley  and  Carteret,  the  origi- 
nal proprietors  of  New  Jersey,  the  power  of  erect- 
ing Courts  and  of  defining  their  jurisdiction,  was 
conferred  upon  the  General  Assembly.  This  body 
convened,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  New 


'  It  must  be  a  source  of  no  ordinary 
gratification  to  Jerseymen  to  reflect, 
that  the  soil  of  their  State  has  never 
been  stained  with  the  blood  of  the  In- 
dian, nor  an  acre  of  her  territory  ob- 
tained by  violence  or  fraud.  Well 
has  she  merited  the  distinguished  ho- 
nor paid  to  her  by  the  Six  Nations 
at  a  Convention  held  at  Fort  Stanwix 
in  1769,  when  in  the  most  solemn 
manner  they  conferred  upon  New 
Jersey  the  title  of  the  Great  Doer  of 
Justice. 

When  the  Legislature  was  applied 
to  in  1832,  by  a  remnant  of  the  Del- 
aware tribe,  to  purchase  certain  rights 
of  fishing  and  hunting  which  had  been 
reserved  to  them  by  an  ancient  treaty, 
Mr.  Southard,  in  advocating  the  claim, 
truly  observed,  "  That  it  was  a  proud 
fact  in  the  history  of  New  Jersey, 
that  every  foot  of  her  soil  had  been 
obtained  from  the  Indians  by  fair  and 


voluntary  purchase  and  transfer — a 
fact,  that  no  other  State  of  the  Union, 
not  even  the  land  that  bears  the  name 
of  Penn,  can  boast  of"  And  in  re- 
turning thanks  to  the  Legislature  for 
its  liberality  upon  that  occasion,  an 
aged  Indian,  who  represented  the 
Delawares,  thus  spoke  :  "  Not  a  drop 
of  our  blood  have  you  spilled  in  bat- 
tle— not  an  acre  of  our  land  have  you 
taken  bi^t  by  our  consent.  These 
facts  speak  for  themselves,  and  need 
no  comment.  They  place  the  char- 
acter of  New  Jersey  in  bold  relief 
and  bright  example  to  those  States, 
within  whose  territorial  limits  our 
brethren  still  remain.  Nothing  save 
benizcns  can  fall  upon  her,  from  the 
lips  of  a  Lenni  Lenappi."  Well 
may  we  exclaim  on  behalf  of  New 
Jersey,  "  The  blessing  of  him  that 
was  ready  to  perish  came  upon  me." 


Q  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  COURTS. 

Jersey,  in  1668,  in  Elizabethtown,  fifteen  years,  by 
the  way,  in  advance  of  any  similar  Assembly  in  the 
Province  of  New  York.  It  held,  however,  only  two 
Sessions  of  four  days  each,  and  passed  but  few 
laws ;  and  such  was  the  unsettled  state  of  the  Pro- 
vince, that  seven  years  elapsed  before  another  As- 
sembly met.^  So  that  it  was  not  until  1675,  that 
we  are  to  look  for  the  first  establishment  of  Courts 
of  Justice  in  New  Jersey  by  legislative  enactment. 
Prior  to  this,  however,  and  as  early  as  1668,  we 
find  Courts  existing  both  at  Bergen  and  Wood- 
bridge  f  and  it  was  to  these  tribunals  that  Governor 
Carteret  appealed,  and  their  protection  which  he  in- 
voked, during  the  troubles  which  followed  that  me- 
morable day,  when  Quit  Rents  first  became  due. 
But  these  were  mere  local  or  municipal  Courts, 
erected  by  the  Corporations  of  those  towns,  in  vir- 
tue of  the  authority  gl-anted  them  by  their  charters. 
Governor  Carteret,  indeed,  sought  to  extend  their 
jurisdiction  and  to  strengthen  their  arm,  by  author- 


'  Whitehead's  East.  Jersey,  52,  53.  Shrewsbury   and    Middletown.     But 

'  Courts  of  Justice  were  also  insti-  the    twelve    Patentees    of  Navesink 

tuted  in  Monmouth  as  early  as  1667,  were  not  long  permitted  by  the  Lords 

under  the  patent  granted  by  Colonel  Proprietors,  to  exercise    the  powers 

Nichols,  "  Governor  under  his  royal  thus    conferred    upon    them   by   his 

highness  the  Duke  of  York  of  all  his  royal   highness's   governor  ;    and  the 

territories  in  America."   These  Courts  Courts  thus  erected  soon   ceased  to 

held  their  sessions  first  at  Portland  exist. — Proceedings  of   N.  J.    Hist. 

Point,  and  afterwards  alternately  at  Soc,  vol.  i.  p.  167. 


COUNTY  COURTS.  7 

izing  them  to  try  all  causes  brought  before  them, 
although  the  parties  might  come  from  beyond  the 
limits  of  their  respective  towns.  This,  however, 
was  a  questionable  exercise  of  power ;  and,  at  all 
events,  these  Courts  proved  themselves  entirely  too 
feeble  to  quell  the  disturbances  and  repress  the  dis- 
orders that  ensued.*  For  the  first,  and  I  may  add, 
the  last  time  in  the  history  of  New  Jersey,  the  laws 
were  silent,  and  anarchy  reigned  supreme. 

But  in  1675,  when  the  next  Assembly  met,  one 
of  the  very  first  acts  that  was  passed  provided  for  the 
establishment  and  maintenance  of  Courts  of  Justice 
throughout  the  Province.^  There  was  to  be,  in  the 
first  place,  a  monthly  Court  of  small  causes  for  the 
trial  of  all  matters  under  forty  shilhngs.  This 
Court  was  to  be  held  on  the  first  Wednesday  of 
every  month,  in  each  town  of  the  Province,  by  two 
or  three  persons,  to  be  chosen  by  the  people,  of 
whom  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  was  to  be  one.^  Then, 
there  were  the  County  Courts  or  Courts  of  Sessions, 
to  be  held  twice  a  year  in  every  county,*  the  Judges 


*  Whitehead's  East  Jersey,  55.  no  doubt,  was  the  origin  of  that  stay 
2  Grants  and  Concessions,  p.  96.  of  execution  which  has  always  been 

*  The    officers   of   the  Court    were  a  distinguishing  feature  in  our  Courts 
to  be  a  clerii  and  a   messenger,  and  for  the  trial  of  small  causes. 

upon  the  recovery  of  a   debt,  if  the  *  No  formal  division  of  the  Province 

defendant  were  a  poor  man,  the  Court  into  counties  had  yet  been  made,  but 

was  empowered  to  give  "  time  and  it  was  provided  in  the  act  constituting 

space  for  the  payment  thereof."  This,  Courts  of  Sessions,  that  Bergen  and 


8  COURT  OF  ASSIZE. 

of  which  were  also  to  be  elected  out  of  the  county 
to  which  the  Court  belonged.  In  these  Courts 
were  directed  to  be  tried  "  all  causes  actionable," 
terms  certainly  very  comprehensive,  and  which 
would  seem  to  have  conferred  unlimited  jurisdic- 
tion. No  appeals  were  to  be  granted  from  their 
judgments  under  the  sum  of  twenty  pounds,  "  ex- 
cept to  the  Bench,  or  to  the  Court  of  Chancery." 
By  the  "  Bench"  was  meant,  undoubtedly,  the  Court 
of  Assize,  which  was  a  Provincial  Court,  directed 
to  be  held  once  a  year  in  the  town  of  Woodbridge, 
or  where  the  Governor  and  Council  should  ap- 
point. This  was  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Pro- 
vince ;  but  from  it  appeals  would  lie  to  the  Govern- 
or and  Council,  and  from  them  in  the  last  resort  to 
the  king. 

Such  were  the  first  Courts  established  in  the 
Province  by  act  of  Assembly ;  and  they  are  inter- 
esting from  the  fact,  that  in  them  we  may  trace  the 
germ  of  our  present  admirable  judicial  system. 
The  monthly  Courts  of  small  causes  was  the  ori- 
ginal of  our  Justice's  Court,  that  most  useful  and 
convenient  tribunal,  by  which  justice  is  literally 
brought  home  to  every  man's  door,  and  controver- 


the   adjacent    plantations   should  be     taway  a  third  ;  and  the  two  towns  of 
one  county ;  Elizabethtown  and  New-     Navesink  a  fourth  county, 
ark  another  ;  Woodbridge  and  Pisca- 


COURTS  OF  SMALL  CAUSES.  9 

sies  of  small  moment  adjusted,  without  the  expense 
and  delay  incident  to  the  proceedings  of  our  higher 
Courts.  It  was,  in  fact,  the  revival,  in  an  improved 
form,  of  those  ancient  common  law  Courts  of  infe- 
rior jurisdiction,  which  had  long  before  fallen  into 
disuse  in  England,  and  the  loss  of  which  has  been 
felt  and  lamented  to  the  present  day.^  Such  were 
the  Hundred  Courts,  and  the  County  Courts  of  the 
Anglo  Saxons,  the  beneficent  fruits  of  the  genius  of 
the  great  Alfred.  Such  was  the  Court  of  Piepoudre, 
so  called,  as  we  are  told,  from  the  dusty  feet  of  the 
suitors ;  or,  as  Sir  Edward  Coke  fancifully  sup- 
poses, because  justice  was  administered  in  them  as 
speedily  as  dust  falls  from  the  feet.^     We  are  so  fa- 


'  As  early  as  the  reign  of  Henry  the 
Seventh,  these  inferior  local  tribunals 
had  in  a  great  measure  gone  into  dis- 
use in  England.  But,  as  Mr.  Hallam 
observes,  "  though  the  reference  of 
every  legal  question,  however  insigni- 
ficant, to  the  Courts  above,  must  have 
been  inconvenient  and  expensive  in  a 
still  greater  degree  than  at  present,  it 
had  doubtless  a  powerful  tendency  to 
knit  together  the  different  parts  of 
England,  to  check  the  influence  of 
feudality  "and  clanship,  to  make  the 
inhabitants  of  distant  counties  better 
acquainted  with  the  capital  city,  and 
more  accustomed  to  the  course  of  go- 
vernment, and  to  impair  the  spirit  of 
provincial  patriotism  and  animosity." 
—Hallam's  Constitutional  Hist,  of 
England,  1.  5. 


Of  late,  however,  efforts  have  been 
made  in  England  to  supply  the  place 
of  these  ancient  Courts.  Public  atten- 
tion was  called  to  the  subject  by  Lord 
Brougham,  in  his  speech  upon  Local 
Courts  delivered  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons in  1830.  And  the  evils  which 
he  complained  of  have  in  some  mea- 
sure been  remedied  by  the  statute  of 
3  and  4  William  IV,  cap.  42,  which, 
in  cases  where  the  debt  or  demand 
does  not  exceed  twenty  pounds,  au- 
thorizes a  trial  to  be  had  before  the 
sheriff  instead  of  a  judge  at  Nisi  Pri- 
us. — See  Lord  Brougham's  Speeches, 
11.  489. 

«3  Black  Com.,  32;  4  Co.  Ins., 
970 


10  JUSTICES  ELECTED  BY  THE  PEOPLE. 

miliar  with  these  humble  tribunals,  they  are  so 
noiseless  and  unobtrusive  in  their  operations,  that 
we  are  apt  to  be  insensible  to  their  benefits ;  nor 
do  we  realize  the  extent  to  which  they  have  cheap- 
ened justice,  and  made  law,  instead  of  being  the 
"  patrimony  of  the  rich,"  "  the  inheritance  of  the 
poor."^  The  judges  of  these  monthly  Courts,  we 
have  seen,  were  chosen  by  the  people.  In  provid- 
ing therefore  for  the  election  of  Justices  of  the 
Peace,  undfcr  our  new  Constitution,  we  seem  to  be 
returning  more  nearly  to  this  primitive  model  of  a 
Court  for  the  trial  of  small  causes.  In  the  county 
Courts  or  Courts  of  Sessions,  exercising  as  they 
did  both  civil  and  criminal  jurisdiction,  we  see  sha- 
dowed forth  our  present  Courts  of  Common  Pleas 
and  Quarter  Sessions.  The  Court  of  Assize  cor- 
responded with  our  Supreme  Court,  while  the  Go- 
vernor and  Council  were  at  that  early  day,  what 


'  By  a  return  made  to  the  House  of  was   not  much    out   of    the    general 

Commons  in  1827,  it  was  ascertained  course.     The  costs  of  each  of  these 

that  for  a  period  of  two  years  and  a  verdicts  was  estimated  to  have  been 

half,  there  had  been  93,000  affidavits  not  less  than  £80.     In  New  Jersey 

of  debt  filed  in  the  King's  Bench  and  all    these    cases,  where  the    amount 

Common  Pleas,  and  ofthese,  29,800,  or  in  controversy  does  not  exceed  £20, 

about  one-third,  were  for  sums  under  or  $100,  would  fall  within  the  juris- 

£20.     Of  fifty  verdicts  taken  at  one  diction  of  our  Courts  for  the  trial  of 

of  the  assizes  in  England  some  years  small  causes,  and  to  compel  parties  to 

ago,  it  was  found   that  their  average  resort  to   the  higher  Courts  would  in 

amount  was  something  less  than  £14 ;  very  many  instances  amount  to  a  de- 

and  it  was  stated  upon  high  authority  nial  of  justice, 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  that  this 


EAST  JERSEY  DIVIDED  INTO  COUNTIES.  n 

they  have  continued  to  be  ever  since,  until  the 
adoption  of  our  new  Constitution,  the  highest  Court 
of  Appeals  in  the  Province.  The  existence  of  a 
Court  of  Chancery  as  a  separate  and  distinct  tribu- 
nal was  also  recognized,  showing  plainly  that  it  was 
from  the  wells  of  English  law  that  our  fatliers 
drew  their  ideas  of  jurisprudence. 

These  Courts  were  somewhat  modified  in  1682, 
after  the  transfer  of  East  Jersey  to  the  twenty-four 
Proprietors.^  In  the  Court  for  the  trial  of  small 
causes,  either  party  was  to  be  at  liberty  to  demand 
a  jury.  So  sacred  was  that  mode  of  trial  deemed, 
that  no  man  was  to  be  denied  the  benefit  of  it,  even 
in  the  smallest  matter.  East  Jersey  was  divided 
into  four  Counties,^  Bergen,  Essex,  Middlesex,  and 
Monmouth ;  and  the  County  Courts  were  directed 
to  be  held  four  times  a  year  in  each  County.^     The 

'  Grants  and  Concessions,  p.  229.  Townships  of  Middletown,  Shrews- 
'  It  was  not  until  1692,  that  Coun-  hury,  and  Freehold. — Grants  and  Con- 
ties  were  first  subdivided  into  Town-  cessions,  p.  328. 
ships.  In  Bergen  but  one  Township  ^  In  Essex  they  were  to  be  held  ai- 
was  created,  called  Hackensack,  be-  ternateiy,  at  Newark  and  Elizabeth- 
sides  which  there  was  the  "  Corpora-  town  ;  in  Middlesex,  at  Woodbridge 
tion  Town  "  of  i7erg-en.  Essex  was  and  Piscataway  ;  in  Monmouth,  at 
divided  into  three  Townships ;  the  Middletown  and  Shrewsbury, 
first  was  called  Aquackanick  and  JVe«)  Middlesex,  however,  was  soon  di- 
Barhadoes,  the  second  Newark,  and  vided,  the  County  of  Somerset  being 
the  third  Elizabethtown.  Middlesex  formed  out  of  a  portion  of  it,  in  1688. 
was  divided  into  the  "  Corporation  The  reason  assigned  for  the  division 
Town "  of  Woodbridge,  and  the  is  a  whimsical  one.  It  was  because 
Townships  of  Perth  Amboy  and  Pis-  the  uppermost  part  of  Raritan  River 
cataway ;    and    Monmouth  into    the  was  settled  by  persons  who,  in  the 


12  COURT  OF  COMMON  RIGHT. 

Judges  were  to  consist  of  the  Justices  of  the  Peace 
in  the  respective  Counties,  or  three  of  them  at  the 
least.  A  High  Sheriff  in  each  County  was  now 
for  the  first  time  provided  for,  and  all  process  out 
of  the  County  Courts  was  to  be  directed  to  him. 
A  change,  too,  was  made  in  the  name  of  the  Su- 
preme Court.  Instead  of  the  Court  of  Assize,  it 
was  to  be  called  the  Court  of  Common  Right. 
Heretofore,  the  titles  of  all  the  judicial  tribunals  in 
the  Province  had  been  borrowed  from  the  English 
Courts,  and  were  familiar  to  the  Common  Law. 
But  a  Court  of  Common  Right  was  something  en- 
tirely new.  The  name  first  occurs  in  the  instruc- 
tions of  Robert  Barclay  and  other  Proprietors  to 
the  Deputy  Governor,  Gawen  Lawrie ;  "  We  do 
require  this  one  thing  concerning  the  Court  of 
Common  Right,  that  it  be  always  held  at  our  Town 
of  Perth,  if  it  be  possible."  ^  Now  Robert  Bar- 
clay and  many  of  the  other  Proprietors,  as  is  well 
known,  were  Scotchmen ;  and  when  we  add  the 
important  fact,  that  this  Court,  under  its  new  or- 
ganization, was  empowered  to  try  and  determine 

husbandry  of  their  land,  were  forced  was  divided  from  the  other  inhabit- 

upon  quite  different  ways  and  methods  ants  of  the  said  County. — Grants  and 

from  the  other  farmers  and  inhabitants  Concessions,  p.  305.      A  more  obvi- 

of  the  County  of  Middlesex,  because  ous  reason  would  seem  to  have  been 

of  the   frequent   floods   that    carried  the  inconvenient  size  of  the  County, 

away  the  fences  on  their  meadows,  '■  Grants  and  Concessions,  p.  199. 
and  so  by  consequence  their  interest 


COURT  OF  COMIWON  RIGHT.  13 

causes  in  Equity  as  well  as  at  Common  Law,  we 
shall  have  no  difficulty  in  discerning  the  influence 
of  those  who  were  more  famihar  with   Scottish 
than  with  Enghsh  jurisprudence.     For  in  Scotland, 
as  most  of  you  are  doubtless  aware,  a  Court  of 
Equity,  as  distinct  from  a  Court  of  Law,  and  under 
the  administration  of  different  Judges,  has  never 
formed  a  part  of  their   system.      This   Court  of 
Common  Right  was  to  consist  of  "  twelve  mem- 
bers, or  six  at  the  least,"  and  was  to  be  held  four 
times  a  year,  and  at  Elizabethtown,^  notwithstand- 
ing the  injunction  contained  in  the  instructions  of 
the  Proprietors  that  it  should  be  held  at  Perth. 
The   ancient   Borough   of   Elizabethtown,   named 
after    the    "fashionable  and   kind-hearted"   Lady 
Carteret,  and  which  had  so  long  enjoyed  the  dis- 
tinction of  being  the  capital  of  the  Province,  was 
not  inclined,  without  a  struggle,  to  surrender  its 
dignity  in  favor  of  the  new  town  named  in  honor 
of  the  Earl  of  Perth,  and  which,  however  glorious 
might  be  its  future,  then  existed  only  in  imagina- 
tion.    It  was  not  until  1686,  that  the  Court  was 
directed  to  be  held  at  Perth  Amboy,  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Province  having  by  that  time  become  sensi- 
ble, as  the  act  declared,  "  that  Amboy  was  more 

'  Grants  and  Concessions,  p.  232. 


14  COURT  OF  COMMON  RIGHT. 

conveniently  situated,  near  the  centre  of  the  Pro- 
vince, the  most  encouraging  place  for  trade  and 
traffic  by  sea  and  land,  and  which  would  occasion 
great  concourse  of  people."  ^  It  was,  as  we  have 
said,  to  be  a  Court  of  Equity  as  well  as  of  Com- 
mon Law.  But  it  was  subsequently  stripped  of  its 
Equity  powers.  For  in  1695,  we  find  the  General 
Assembly  in  a  solemn  act  declaring  what  were 
"the  rights  and  privileges  of  His  Majesty's  sub- 
jects inhabiting  within  the  Province  of  East  New 
Jersey,"  enacting,  among  other  things,  that  the 
Judges  of  the  Court  of  Common  Right  should  not 
be  Judges  of  the  High  Court  of  Chancery.  This, 
we  may  remark,  is  the  only  instance  to  be  found  in 
the  history  of  our  judicial  system,  in  which  the 
powers  of  an  Equity  and  a  Common  Law  Court 
have  ever  been  blended  in  the  same  tribunal.  And 
the  experiment  does  not  appear  to  have  been  a  suc- 
cessful one. 

So  much  for  the  Courts  of  East  Jersey,  under 
its  Proprietary  government.  And  now,  it  may  be 
asked,  what  were  the  laws  which  these  Courts  were 
called  upon  to  administer,  and  in  what  way  were 
their  proceedings  regulated  ?     And  the  first  thing 


'  Grants  and  Concessions,  p.  293.  for  the  object  of  their  solicitude  a  des- 
"  This  Town  was  a  favorite  project  of  tiny  which  has  never  been  realized." 
the  Proprietaries,  and  they  prefigured     —Whitehead's  East  Jersey,  108. 


EARLY  LAWS. 


15 


which  strikes  our  attention  is,  how  very  few  in 
number,  and  how  very  simple  in  their  provisions, 
the  early  legislative  enactments  were.  For  exam- 
ple, laws  were  passed  for  the  erection  of  Courts  of 
Justice,  designating  their  titles,  defining  their  juris- 
diction, and  prescribing  the  number  of  Judges ;  but 
as  to  the  manner  in  which  their  business  was  to  be 
conducted,  by  what  rules  they  were  to  be  govern- 
ed, and  how  their  sentences  were  to  be  enforced, 
nothing  whatever  was  said.  An  act  of  Assembly 
required  that  there  should  be  a  High  Sheriff  in 
every  County,  but  it  was  silent  as  to  his  powers 
and  duties.  In  the  same  manner  provision  is  made 
for  Grand  Juries,  who  were  to  present  all  offences 
against  law ;  but  we  have  not  a  word  as  to  the  per- 
sons of  whom  they  are  to  be  composed,  or  the 
authority  by  which  they  are  to  be  convened,  or  as 
to  their  methods  of  procedure.  These  laws  stand- 
ing alone,  unexplained  and  uninterpreted,  would  not 
merely  have  been  a  dead  letter,  but  a  perfect  enig- 
ma. But  by  whom  were  they  to  be  unfolded,  and 
as  it  were  deciphered  ?  Were  the  Judges  to  do  it 
at  their  discretion  ?  Was  the  secret  to  lie  in  the 
breast  of  the  Court  ?  No  :  as  well  have  had  no  laws. 
But,  be  it  remembered,  our  fathers  brought  with 
them  from  England  the  common  law.  It  was  their 
birthright,  their  inheritance ;  and  they  transplant- 


16  COMMON  LAW. 

ed  it  along  with  themselves  to  this  congenial  soil, 
where  it  at  once  took  root  and  flourished.  Its  am- 
ple folds  covered  all  the  nakedness  of  our  primitive 
enactments.  Its  abundant  resources  supplied  all 
their  deficiencies.  It  furnished  the  key  with  which 
to  unlock  the  hidden  meaning  of  the  statute. 

And  they  brought  with  them,  too,  the  common 
law,  not  as  it  was  after  the  Norman  Conquest,  bur- 
dened with  the  oppressive  features  of  the  feudal 
system ;  not  as  it  existed  under  the  Tudors,  when 
the  prerogatives  of  the  crown  lorded  it  over  the 
rights  of  the  people ;  or  in  the  reigns  of  James  and 
Charles  the  First,  with  its  star-chamber  and  high 
commission  Court,  its  forced  loans  and  benevolen- 
ces, its  ship-money  and  arbitrary  imprisonment ; 
but  the  common  law,  in  the  state  to  which  it  was 
brought  during  the  reign  of  the  second  Charles, 
purified  from  the  corruptions  and  redeemed  from 
the  abuses  which  long  ages  of  tyranny  and  misrule 
had  engrafted  upon  it.  For  it  was  in  the  reign  of 
Charles  the  Second,  stained  though  it  was  with 
blood  and  crime,  and  at  the  very  period  of  the  first 
settlement  of  New  Jersey,  that  the  common  law  of 
England  reached  its  highest  state  of  vigor  and  per- 
fection.^   It  was  then  that  the  habeas  corpus  act,  and 

*  3  Black.  Com.     The  opinion  ex-     reign  of  Charles  II,  "wicked,  san- 
pressed   by   Blackstone,  that   in  the     guinary,  and  turbulent  as  it  was,  the 


COMMON  LAW. 


17 


the  act  abolishing  feudal  tenures,  were  passed,  acts 
which,  as  it  has  been  said,  formed  a  second  magna 
charta,  more  beneficial  and  efficacious  than  that  of 
Runnymeade.  That  but  pruned  the  luxuriance  of 
feudal  tenures,  and  lopped  off  some  of  their  excres- 
cences ;  whereas  the  act  of  12th  Charles  II  laid 
the  axe  at  their  very  root.  Magna  charta  but  de- 
clared that  no  man  should  be  unlawfully  imprison- 
ed ;  the  habeas  corpus  act  furnished  him  with  the 
mqans  of  obtaining  instant  relief  from  such  impris- 
onment.' The  Revolution  of  1688  gave  no  addi- 
tional security  to  the  private  rights  and  personal 
liberties  of  Englishmen.      It  was  itself  but  one  of 


constitution  of  England  had  arrived  to 
its  full  vigor,  and  the  true  balance  be- 
tween liberty  and  prerogative  was 
happily  established  by  law,"  may  at 
first  view  appear  paradoxical,  and  I 
am  aware  that  its  correctness  has 
been  frequently  called  in  question. 
But  it  is  substantially  confirmed  by 
Hallam,  who,  upon  a  question  of  this 
kind,  must  be  deemed  the  very  high- 
est authority.  After  reviewing  the 
prominent  events  of  this  reign,  he  ob- 
serves: "  It  may  seem  rather  an  ex- 
traordinary position,  after  the  last 
chapters,  yet  is  it  strictly  true,  that 
the  fundamental  privileges  of  the  sub- 
ject were  less  invaded,  the  preroga- 
tive swerved  into  fewer  excesses,  du- 
ring the  reign  of  Charles  II,  than 
perhaps  in  any  former  period  of  equal 
length.  Thanks  to  the  patriot  ener- 
gies of  Selden  and  Eliot,  of  Pym  and 


Hampden,  the  constitutional  bounda- 
ries of  royal  power  had  been  so  well 
established  that  no  minister  was  dar- 
ing enough  to  attempt  any  flagrant 
and  general  violation  of  them." — 
Ilallam's  Constitutional  Hist,  of  Eng- 
land, vol.  iii.  chap.  1. 

It  must  be  remembered,  too,  that  it 
was  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II,  that  a 
Hale  presided  in  the  Court  of  King's 
Bench,  and  a  Nottingham  sat  upon 
the  Woolsack. 

'  The  "  Statute  of  Distributions," 
making  a  most  equitable  disposition 
of  personal  property  in  case  of  intes- 
tacy, was  also  passed  in  this  reign  ; 
and  that  "  most  important  and  benefi- 
cial piece  of  juridical  legislation,"  the 
famous  "  Statute  of  Frauds,"  of  which 
Lord  Nottingham  used  to  say,  "  that 
every  line  of  it  was  worth  a  subsidy." 


IQ  CONCESSIONS  OF  BERKLEY  AND  CARTERET. 

the  fruits  of  those  glorious  principles,  the  triumph 
of  which  had  already  been  achieved,  and  which 
were  cheaply  purchased  by  all  the  blood  that  had 
been  shed,  and  all  the  follies  and  crimes  that  had 
been  engendered,  by  the  great  Rebellion. 

But  besides  the  Common  Law,  which  formed  the 
basis  of  our  jurisprudence  and  regulated  the  pro- 
ceedings of  our  Courts,  there  were  the  Concessions 
of  the  first  Proprietors,  Berkley  and  Carteret. 
These  formed  the  first  Constitution  of  New  Jer- 
sey. I  need  scarcely  tell  you  it  was  a  free  Consti- 
tution ;  the  only  kind  of  Constitution  under  which 
the  people  of  New  Jersey  have  ever  been  willing 
to  live.  It  proclaimed  religious  liberty  in  its  fullest 
extent.  "  No  man  shall  be  molested,  disquieted,  or 
called  in  question,  for  any  difference  of  opinion  or 
practice  in  matters  of  religion,  throughout  the  Pro- 
vince." It  proclaimed  freedom  from  taxation  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  people.  "  No  tax,  custom, 
or  duty  whatsoever,  upon  any  color  or  pretence, 
shall  be  imposed  upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  said 
Province,  but  by  the  authority  of  the  General  As- 
sembly." In  short,  it  guarantied  complete  security 
of  person  and  property,  under  laws  to  be  enacted 
by  an  Assembly  composed  of  the  Governor  and 
Council,  and  at  least  an  equal  number  of  the  rep- 


CONCESSIONS  OF  BERKLEY  AND  CARTERET.  19 

resentatives  of  the  people.^  Strange,  that  a  Con- 
stitution so  free  should  have  emanated  from  the 
profligate  courtiers  of  Charles  the  Second ;  men 
who  were  wont  to  scoff  at  the  rights  of  the  people, 
and  who  loathed  the  very  name  of  liberty  !  It  was 
in  truth,  as  has  been  well  remarked,  "  the  homage 
paid  by  avarice  to  freedom."  New  Jersey  was  at 
that  time  a  mere  wilderness,  tenanted  only  by  a 
few  wandering  tribes  of  savages.  To  make  it  of 
any  value  to  its  Proprietors,  it  was  absolutely  ne- 
cessary that  it  should  be  peopled ;  and  a  speedy 
settlement  could  alone  insure  a  quick  return.  It 
had  no  mines  of  gold  or  silver  to  invite  the  cupidi- 
ty of  adventurers.  Other  lands  more  fair  and  fer- 
tile, and  equally  accessible,  were  open  to  the 
emigrant.  Hence,  settlers  were  to  be  allured  by 
tempting  offers  of  the  largest  liberty.  The  Con- 
cessions were  published  and  circulated  both  in 
England  and  throughout  the  Colonies.  Emissaries 
were  sent  to  New  England  to  proclaim,  that  be- 
yond the  Hudson  was  to  be  found  a  safer  and  a  se- 
curer asylum  for  freedom ;  and  Puritans  were  soon 
seen  flocking  to  the  banks  of  the  Passaic  and  the 
Raritan. 

Something  may  perhaps  be  expected  as  to  the 

'  Grants  and  Concessions,  p.  12-26. 


20  PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  COURTS. 

state  of  the  legal  profession  under  the  Proprietary 
Government,  and  of  those  who  figured  on  the  Bench 
or  at  the  Bar.  Alas,  that  the  materials  for  such  a 
work  are  so  few,  and  that  each  successive  year  but 
adds  to  the  difficulty  of  rescuing  from  oblivion  the 
memorials  of  those  early  days  !  But  were  the 
means  of  information  more  ample,  they  would  per- 
haps prove  more  curious  than  useful,  and  would 
contribute  rather  to  our  entertainment  than  our  in- 
struction. The  proceedings  of  the  Courts  were 
marked  by  the  utmost  simplicity,  and  by  an  almost 
entire  absence  of  that  ceremony  and  parade  which 
distinguished  them  during  the  Colonial  government, 
when  the  judges  of  the  higher  Courts,  clad  in  their 
gorgeous  robes,^  affected  a  degree  of  state,  which 
would  have  been  as  repugnant  to  the  severe  tastes 
of  those  who  lived  under  the  proprietary  rule,  as  to 
the  republican  notions  of  our  own  day.  The  pure 
and  excellent  Thomas  Olive,  sometime  Governor 
of  West  Jersey,  was  in  the  habit  of  dispensing  jus- 
tice "  sitting,"  says  the  historian,  "  on  the  stumps 


'  The  costume  worn  by  the  judges  with   black   silk    bags.     In   summer 

prior  to  the  Revolution,  was  probably  black  silk  gowns  were  worn.     The 

assumed  by  them  immediately  after  lawyers  also  wore  black  silk  gowns, 

the  Surrender,  when  they  were  first  and    sometimes     bands     and     bags, 

appointed  by  royal  authority.    It  con-  These  official  robes  were  resumed  to 

sisted    of   scarlet    robes    with    deep  some    extent    after    the    Revolution, 

facings,  and  cuffs  of   black    velvet ;  but  towards  the  close  of  the  last  cen- 

bands,  and  powdered  wigs,  adorned  tury  they  fell  into  disuse. 


BUSINESS  OF  THE  COURTS.  21 

in  his  meadows."^  What  a  striking  and  interesting 
picture  does  this  present  of  those  primeval  times  ! 
How  emblematic,  as  it  were,  of  heaven-descended 
justice,  newly  alighted  upon  this  spot,  where  the 
forest  had  just  been  felled  and  the  wilderness  sub- 
dued ! 

Nor  was  the  business  of  the  Courts — if  we  may 
judge  from  the  few  cases  which  have  been  handed 
down  to  us — of  much  interest  or  importance.  Pet- 
ty disputes  and  frivolous  controversies  would  seem 
to  have  occupied  much  of  their  time.  May  I  be 
pardoned  for  saying,  that — what  shall  I  call  it — a 
fondness  for  litigation,  or  a  love  of  law,  or  a  desire 
to  be  in  and  about  courts  of  justice,  has  always 
formed  a  somewhat  prominent  trait  in  the  charac- 
ter of  the  people  of  New  Jersey.  But  in  this  per- 
haps they  are  not  peculiar.  At  a  later  period  in 
our  history,  Mr.  Burke,  speaking  of  the  Colonies 
generally,  declared  in  the  House  of  Commons,  that 
in  no  country  in  the  world  was  the  law  so  general 
a  study,  and  that  every  man  who  was  able  to  read 
endeavored  to  obtain  some  smattering  in  that  sci- 
ence. He  had  been  told,  he  said,  by  an  eminent 
bookseller,  that  in  no  branch  of  his  business,  after 
tracts  of  popular  devotion,  were  so  many  books  as 

'  Smith's  N.  J  ,  209. 


23  ABSENCE  OF  LAWYERS. 

those  on  the  law  exported  to  the  Colonies.  And  it 
was  to  this  disposition  that  he  ascribed  the  fact, 
that  while  in  other  countries  the  people  were  in 
the  habit  of  judging  of  an  ill  principle  only  by  an 
actual  grievance,  here  they  anticipated  the  evil,  and 
judged  of  the  pressure  of  the  grievance  by  the  bad- 
ness of  the  principle,  auguring  misgovernment  at  a 
distance,  and  snuffing  the  approach  of  tyranny  in 
every  tainted  breeze.^ 

But  we  are  not  from  this  to  suppose,  that  at  the 
early  period  of  which  we  are  now  speaking,  those 
who  were  lawyers  by  profession  composed  a  very 
large  class  of  the  community.  On  the  contrary,  if 
we  may  believe  Oldmixon,  there  was  a  time  when 
New  Jersey  was  deemed  worthy  the  name  of  Para- 
dise, because,  in  addition  to  its  natural  advantages, 
it  was  blessed  by  the  absence  of  lawyers,  physi- 
cians, and  parsons."     And,  as  if  for  the  purpose  of 

'  Speech  on  Conciliation  with  Ame-  healthy  ;    long   may  it   so    continue, 

rica.    Burke's  Works,  II.  36.    "  This  and    never    have    occasion    for    the 

study,"  he  adds,  "  renders  men  acute,  tongue  of  the  one  nor  the  pen  of  the 

inquisitive,    dextrous,  prompt    in  at-  other,    both    equally    destructive    to 

tack,  ready   in    defence,  full    of  re-  men's  estates  and  lives."     This  little 

:Sources."  work  was  first  published  in  1698,  and 

^Oldmixon's  Brit.  Empire,!.  144.  is    dedicated    to    "Friend    William 

Gabriel  Thomas  too,  in  his  Histo-  Penn."    The  author  terms  it  a  "  plain 

rical   and    Geographical   Account   of  and  peasant-like  piece,"  and  assures 

Pennsylvania  and  West  New  Jersey,  us  he  was   prompted   to  write  it  by 

thus   discourses    irreverently  of    the  "  no  plot  in  his  pate,  or  deep  design," 

Profession :    "  Of  Lawyers  and  Phy-  an  assurance  which  no  one  who  reads 

^icians  I  shall  say  nothing,  because  it  will  be  disposed  to  question, 
•this  country  is  very  peaceable   and 


INCREASE  OF  LAWYERS.  23 

perpetuating  this  blissful  state  of  things,  at  least  so 
far  as  lawyers  were  concerned,  the  Fundamental 
Constitutions  of  the  twenty-four  proprietors  of  East 
Jersey  provided,  that  in  all  Courts,  persons  of  all 
persuasions,  might  freely  appear  in  their  own  way, 
and  there  plead  their  own  causes  themselves,  or  if 
unable,  by  their  friends ;  and  that  no  person  should 
be  allowed  to  take  money  for  pleading  or  advice  in 
such  cases.^  But  this  happy  exemption  was  not  of 
long  continuance.  Lawyers,  as  well  as  parsons 
and  physicians,  soon  found  their  way  into  this 
Eden.  For  in  1694,  we  find  an  act  of  Assembly 
for  the  regulation  of  Attornies  at  Law  within  the 
Province,  and  which  prohibited  Justices  of  the 
Peace,  Sheriffs,  and  Clerks  of  the  Courts,  from 
acting  as  Attornies  under  the  penalty  of  twenty 
pounds.^  And  in  1698,  Governor  Basse  was  in- 
structed to  procure  the  passage  of  a  law,  by  which 
no  Attorney  or  other  person  should  be  suffered  to 
practice  or  plead  for  fee  or  hire  in  any  Court  of 
Judicature,  unless  he  had  been  regularly  admitted 
to  practice  by  license  from  the  Governor.^  In  fact, 
there  existed  in  the  Province  of  East  Jersey,  at  a 
very  early  day,  a  most  prolific  source  of  strife  and 
litigation,  and  one  that  called  loudly  for  the  ser- 

'  Grants  and  Concessions,  p.  153.  '  Ibid,  p.  223. 

» Ibid,  p.  343. 


24  COURTS  OF  WEST  JERSEY. 

vices  of  lawyers.  I  allude  to  the  conflicting  claims 
of  those  who  held  lands  under  grants  from  the  In- 
dians, and  those  who  deduced  their  titles  from  the 
Proprietors.  The  agitation  of  this  controversy  in 
1695,  shook  to  their  centre  the  Provincial  Courts, 
and  fifty  years  later,  was  the  subject  of  that  famous 
bill  in  Chancery,  of  which  I  shall  have  occasion 
hereafter  to  speak,  and  in  which  is  embodied  so 
much  of  the  early  history  of  our  State. 

Thus  far  we  have  spoken  only  of  the  Courts  of 
Justice  in  East  Jersey.  Those  of  West  Jersey, 
under  its  Proprietary  Government,  will  now  claim 
our  attention.  They  consisted,  in  the  first  place,  of 
a  Court  for  small  causes,  held  by  a  single  Justice  of 
the  Peace,  having  jurisdiction  only  in  actions  of 
debt  under  forty  shillings,  with  a  right  of  appeal  to 
the  County  Court.'^  County  Courts,  or  Courts  of 
Sessions,  as  they  were  called,  were  first  estabhshed 
by  act  of  Assembly  for  Burlington  and  Salem  in 
1682,^  and  were  extended  in  1693  to  the  newly 
erected  county  of  Cape  May.^  They  were  to  be 
held  four  times  a  year  by  the  Justices  of  the  Peace 
in  each  county.  They  seem  to  have  had  unlimited 
jurisdiction  in  all  cases  civil  and  criminal,  with  this 
single  exception,  that  they  could  not  try  offences 

'  Grants  and  Concessions,  p.  509.  ^  Ibid,  p.  514. 

« Ibid,  p.  448. 


COURTS  OF  WEST  JERSEY.  35 

of  a  capita]  nature.  They  were  the  great  Courts 
of  the  Province,  and  for  a  long  time  there  was  no 
appeal  from  their  decisions.  But  in  1693/  a  Su- 
preme Court  of  Appeals  was  erected,  consisting 
of  one  or  more  of  the  Justices  of  each  county,  and 
one  or  more  of  the  Governor's  Council  for  the  time 
being,  any  three  of  whom,  one  being  of  the  Coun- 
cil, were  to  constitute  a  quorum.  This  Court,  as 
originally  organized,  was  strictly  an  appellate  tri- 
bunal, but  in  1699,  during  the  administration  of 
Governor  Hamilton,  its  title  and  constitution  un- 
derwent an  essential  change.^  It  was  to  be  called 
the  Provincial  Court,  and  to  be  composed  of  three 
Judges  to  be  chosen  by  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives of  the  Province,  and  one  or  more  of  the  Jus- 
tices of  each  county,  of  whom  any  three  of  the 
said  Justices,  in  conjunction  with  two  of  the  said 
Judges,  were  to  be  a  quorum.  It  was  to  be  held 
twice  a  year  in  each  county,  to  have  original  as 
well  as  appellate  jurisdiction,  and  when  the  matter 
in  controversy  amounted  to  twenty  pounds,  there 
was  to  be  an  appeal  from  its  judgments  to  the  Ge- 
neral Assembly.  By  an  act  passed  in  1700,  it  was 
made  the  duty  of  the  Sheriff  of  each  county,  to 
meet  the  Provincial  Judges  and  other  officers,  when 
riding  the  circuit,  at  the  verge  of  his  county,  and  to 

•*  Grants  and  Concessions,  p.  517.  '  Ibid,  p.  5G3. 


26  COURTS  OF  WEST  JERSEY. 

attend  and  conduct  them  safely  through  his  BaiH- 
wick  to  the  place  of  their  sitting,  or  in  case  of  fur- 
ther travel,  to  the  entrance  of  the  next  county,  the 
Sheriff  of  which  was  likewise  to  receive  and  con- 
duct them  in  manner  aforesaid.^  In  1693,  a  Court 
of  Oyer  and  Terminer  was  established  for  the  trial 
of  capital  crimes,  to  be  composed  of  a  Judge  ap- 
pointed by  the  Governor  and  Council,  assisted  by 
two  or  more  Justices  of  the  county  where  the  crime 
was  committed.-  And  it  is  an  interesting  fact,  that 
up  to  this  period,  there  was  really  no  tribunal  in 
West  Jersey  competent  to  try  offences  of  a  capital 
nature.^  How  strongly  does  this  remind  us  of  that 
feature  in  the  code  of  the  great  lawgiver  of  Athens, 
by  which  no  provision  was  made  for  the  punish- 
ment of  parricide,  from  an  unwillingness  to  suppose 
that  a  crime  so  abhorrent  to  nature  would  ever 
be  committed.  So  much  for  the  Courts  of  Justice 
in  West  Jersey.      I  cannot   find  any  traces  of  a 


'  Grants  and  Concessions,  p.  572.  the   punishment   of  death   was   pre- 

This  practice  of  meeting  the  Judges  scribed.     But  it  was  provided,  that 

when  riding  the  Circuit,  at  the  verge  whenever  a  person  should  be  found 

of  the   county,  and  escorting  ihem  to  guilty  of  murder  or  treason,  the  sen- 

the  place  where  the  Courts  were  held,  tence   and  way  of  execution  were   to 

continued  to  prevail  until  many  years  be  left  to   the  General   Assembly   to 

after  the  Revolution.  determine    as    they   in     the    wisdom 

"  Ibid,  p.  520.  of  the  Lord  should  judge  meet  and 

•'  Properly  speaking,  there  were  no  expedient. — Grants  and  Concessions, 

capital  offences  in  West  Jersey,  that  p.  404. 
is,  there  were  no  crimes  for  which 


WEST  JERSEY  CONCESSIONS.  27 

Court  of  Chancery  in  that  Province  under  the  Pro- 
prietary Government.  In  so  primitive  a  state  of  so- 
ciety there  could  hardly  have  existed  any  necessity 
for  such  a  tribunal,  and  it  is  not  improbable,  that 
the  Quaker  settlers  in  their  simplicity  may  not 
have  been  aware  of  the  distinction  between  Courts 
of  law  and  of  equity.  Law  was  probably  adminis- 
tered in  al]  their  Courts  upon  very  equitable  princi- 
ples. Its  rigor  was  mitigated,  and  its  severe  rules 
relaxed,  without  the  assistance  of  a  Court  of  Chan- 
cery. 

Reference  has  been  made  to  the  Concessions  of 
Berkley  and  Carteret.  But  the  Concessions  of  the 
Proprietors  of  West  Jersey  were  still  more  liberal. 
A  more  beautiful  fabric  of  free  government  was 
never  reared.  It  should  be  for  ever  embalmed  in 
the  memory  of  Jerseymen. 

"  No  man  nor  number  of  men  upon  earth,"  such 
is  its  language,  "  have  power  or  authority  to  rule 
over  men's  consciences  in  religious  matters  :  there- 
fore it  is  agreed  and  ordained,  that  no  person  or 
persons  whatsoever  within  the  said  Province,  shall 
at  any  time  hereafter,  in  any  way  or  upon  any  pre- 
tence whatsoever,  be  called  in  question,  or  in  the 
least  punished  or  hurt,  either  in  person,  privilege,  or 
estate,  for  the  sake  of  his  opinion,  judgment,  faith, 
or  worship,  in  matters    of  religion."      Never  was 


28  WEST  JERSEY  CONCESSIONS. 

there  a  more  comprehensive  act  of  religious  tolera- 
tion ;  and  never  was  it  violated  either  in  its  letter 
or  its  spirit.  That  could  be  said  of  the  Quakers  of 
New  Jersey,  which  could  not  be  said  of  the  Puri- 
tans of  New  England,  "  they  had  suffered  persecu- 
tion and  had  learned  mercy." 

No  tax,  custom,  subsidy,  assessment,  or  any 
other  duty  whatever,  was,  upon  any  color  or  pre- 
tence, how  specious  soever,  to  be  imposed  upon 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Province,  without  the  con- 
sent and  authority  of  the  General  Assembly.  It 
would  seem  as  if,  with  prophetic  spirit,  they  had 
foreseen  the  very  form  in  which  tyranny  would  as- 
sail them.  So  dear  to  them  was  the  right  of  trial 
by  jury,  that  their  language  in  relation  to  it,  almost 
savors  of  refinement  and  borders  upon  excess. 
The  Justices  were  to  sit  with  the  twelve  men 
of  the  neighborhood,  to  assist  them  in  matters 
of  law,  and  to  pronounce  such  judgment  as  they 
should  receive  from  the  twelve  men,  in  whom 
alone,  it  was  declared,  the  judgment  resided ;  and 
in  case  of  the  neglect  or  refusal  of  the  Justices  to 
pronounce  such  judgment,  then  one  of  the  twelve, 
by  consent  of  the  rest,  was  to  pronounce  their  own 
judgment  as  the  Justices  should  have  done ;  lan- 
guage prompted,  no  doubt,  by  the  bitter  recollec- 
tion of  the  way  in  which  the  rights  of  juries  had 


WEST  JERSEY  CONCESSIONS. 


29 


SO  often  been  trampled  upon  in  England  by  over- 
bearing Judges.^  Members  of  Assembly  were  to 
be  chosen  by  ballot;    to  receive   instructions   at 


'  Penn  himself,  whose  name  is  af- 
fixed to  these  Concessions,  and  who 
probably  had  a  principal  hand  in  fram- 
ing them,  must  have  had  a  vivid  re- 
membrance of  his  own  trial,  which 
had  taken  place  but  a  few  years  be- 
fore. He  and  William  Mead  were 
tried  at  the  Old  Bailey  in  1760,  upon 
an  indictment  for  a  tumultuous  as- 
sembly. We  have  a  full  account  of 
this  trial,  written  by  themselves,  in 
Hargrave's  edition  of  the  State  Tri- 
als, and  some  of  the  incidents  con- 
nected with  it  may  perhaps  account 
for  the  extreme  solicitude  shown  in 
the  Concessions  to  guard  against  in- 
vasion the  rights  of  Juries.  It  may 
not  be  amiss,  therefore,  to  advert  to  a 
few  of  them,  although  it  may  swell 
this  note  to  an  inconvenient  size. 

When  the  prisoners  were  brought 
to  the  Bar,  one  of  the  officers  took 
their  hats  off.  "  Sirrah,"  exclaimed 
the  Mayor,  addressing  the  officer, 
"  who  bid  you  put  off  their  hats  ? 
Put  them  on  again."  Their  hats 
were  accordingly  put  on  again  by  the 
officer,  and  then  the  Recorder  fined 
them  forty  marks  apiece  for  contempt, 
in  wearing  their  hats  in  the  King's 
Court.  When  the  Jury  first  returned 
into  Court,  they  had  not  agreed  upon 
their  verdict ;  eight  were  for  convict- 
ing and  four  for  acquitting.  The 
Court,  after  threatening  and  abusing 
them,  sent  them  out  again.  They 
then  returned  with  the  following  ver- 
dict:    "  Guilty  of  speaking  in  Grace- 


church-street."  Court — "  Is  that  all  1" 
Foreman — "  That  is  all  I  have  in 
commission."  Recorder — "  You  had 
as  good  say  nothing."  After  another 
volley  of  abuse,  they  were  again  sent 
out,  and  soon  returned  again,  finding 
Penn  guilty  of  speaking  or  preaching 
in  Gracechurch-street,  and  Mead  not 
guilty.  Thereupon  the  rage  of  the 
Mayor  and  Recorder  knew  no  bounds. 
"  You  are  a  Foreman  indeed,"  said 
the  Mayor,  addressing  him  ;  "  I 
thought  you  had  understood  your 
place  better."  "  We  will  have  a 
verdict,"  said  the  Recorder,  "  by  the 
help  of  God,  or  you  shall  starve  for 
it."  "  You  are  Englishmen,"  said 
Penn,  looking  upon  the  Jury ;  "  mind 
your  privilege,  give  not  away  your 
right."  The  Jury  were  kept  out  all 
night,  without  meat,  drink,  fire,  or 
any  other  accommodation  ;  but  when 
brought  into  Court  next  day,  they 
still  adhered  to  their  verdict.  The 
Mayor,  addressing  Bushel,  one  of  the 
Jury,  said,  "  You  are  a  factious  fel- 
low, I'll  take  a  course  with  you." 
Bushel — "  I  have  done  according  to 
my  conscience."  Mayor — "  That  con- 
science of  yours  would  cut  my  throat." 
Bushel — "  No,  my  Lord,  it  never 
shall."  Mayor — "  But  '  I  will  cut 
yours  as  soon  as  I  can."  Penn — "  I 
desire  to  ask  the  Recorder  a  question. 
Do  you  allow  of  the  verdict  given  of 
William  Mead?"  Recorder—"  It 
cannot  be  a  verdict,  because  you  are 
indicted   for  a  conspiracy,    and   one 


30 


WEST  JERSEY  CONCESSIONS. 


large  from  those  who  sent  them ;  and  to  covenant 
and  oblige  themselves  to  be  faithful  to  their  con- 
stituents  by  indentures  under  their  hand  and  seal. 
They  were  to  receive  for  their  services  a  shilling  a 
day,  that  thereby  they  might  be  known  to  be  the 
servants  of  the  people.  Courts  were  to  be  public 
and  open,  that  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  Province 
might  freely  come  into  them,  that  so  justice  might 
not  be  done  in  a  corner. 

These  Concessions  were  declared  to  be  their 
common  law,  their  great  charter ;  they  were  to  be 


being  found  guilty  and  not  the  other, 
it  cannot  be  a  verdict."  Penn — "  If 
not  guilty  be  not  a  verdict,  you  make 
of  the  Jury  and  magna  charta  a  mere 
nose  of  wax."  The  Recorder  said  it 
would  never  be  well  with  them  till 
they  had  something  like  the  Spanish 
Inquisition  in  England.  At  last,  af- 
ter being  kept  out  two  nights  and  a 
day,  the  Jury  returned  with  a  verdict 
of  not  guilty.  Recorder,  addressing 
the  Jury — "  God  keep  my  life  out  of 
your  hands ;  but  for  this  the  Court 
fines  you  forty  marks  a  man,  and  im- 
prisonment till  paid."  Penn  then  de- 
manded his  liberty.  Mayor — "No, 
you  are  in  for  your  fines."  Penn — 
"Fine,  for  what?"  Mayor — "For 
contempt  of  Court."  Penn  was  pro- 
ceeding to  remonstrate  against  this, 
when  the  Recorder  said,  "  Take  him 
away — take  him  away — take  him  out 
of  the  Court."  Penn — "  I  can  never 
urge  the  Fundamental  Laws  of  Eng- 
land, but  you  cry, '  Take  him  away — 


take  him  away.'  But  it  is  no  won- 
der, since  the  Spanish  Inquisition  has 
so  great  a  place  in  the  Recorder's 
heart."  The  Jury,  as  well  as  the  Pri- 
soners, were  then  sent  to  Newgate  for 
the  non-payment  of  their  fines.  Bush- 
el, however,  one  of  the  Jurors,  sued 
out  his  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  return- 
able to  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas, 
and  was  discharged  ;  Lord  Chief  Jus- 
tice Vaughan,  upon  that  occasion,  de- 
livering a  most  elaborate  and  master- 
ly argument,  in  vindication  of  the 
light  of  a  Jury  to  find  a  general  ver- 
dict against  the  direction  of  the  Court. 
"  To  Edward  Bushel,"  said  Lord  Ers- 
kine,  in  his  speech  in  defence  of  the 
Dean  of  St.  Asaph,  "are  we  almost 
as  much  indebted  as  to  Mr.  Hamp- 
den, who  brought  the  case  of  ship- 
money  before  the  Court  of  E.xche- 
quer." — Erskine's  Speeches,  II.  117. 
See  Bushel's  Case,  Vaughan' s  Rep.  p. 
135-158. 


WEST  JERSEY  CONCESSIONS.  31 

read  at  the  beginning  and  the  dissolving  of  every 
General  free  Assembly ;  and  they  were  also  direct- 
ed to  be  writ  on  fair  tables,  in  every  Hall  of  Justice 
in  the  Province,  and  read  by  the  Magistrates  in 
solemn  manner  four  times  every  year  in  the  pre- 
sence of  the  people,  —  "it  being  intended  and  re- 
solved, by  the  help  of  the  Lord  and  these  our  Con- 
cessions, that  every  person  inhabiting  the  said 
Province  shall,  as  far  as  in  us  lies,  be  free  from 
oppression  and  slavery."^  Precious  words  !  And 
how  should  our  hearts  overflow  with  gratitude  to 
God  that  now,  one  hundred  and  seventy  years 
since  this  pious  purpose  was  first  announced,  we 
live  to  see  it  realized.  There  is  not  to  be  found, 
in  the  whole  history  of  our  country,  rich  as  it  is  in 
interesting  scenes,  an  incident  so  beautiful,  as  the 
first  settlement  of  West  Jersey  by  the  Quakers. 
"  West  New  Jersey,"  says  Bancroft,  "  would  have 
been  a  fit  home  for  a  Fenelon." 

Nor  were  the  settlers  of  West  Jersey  satisfied 
with  the  mere  declaration  of  their  rights  and  privi- 


'  This  was  the  first  essay  of  Qua-  after  ages  to  understand  their  liberty 

ker  legislation,  and  "  entitles,"  says  as  men  and  Christians,  that  they  may 

Grahame,  "its  authors  to  no   mean  not  be  brought  in  bondage,   but  by 

share  in  the  honor  of  planting  civil  their  own  consent ;    for  we  put  the 

and  religious  liberty  in  America." —  power  in  the  people." — See  Letter  to 

"  There,"  said  Penn  and  some  of  his  Bichard  Hartshorne,  Smith's  N.  /., 

colleagues,  in  allusion  to  these  Con-  p.  80. 
cessions,  "  we   lay  a  foundation    for 


^  CUSTOMS  AT  THE  HOARKILLS. 

leges.  They  were  always  ready  to  assert  and  vin- 
dicate them  whenever  they  were  questioned  or  as- 
sailed. Thus,  when  the  agent  of  the  Duke  of  York 
at  the  Hoarkills  persisted  in  exacting  customs  of 
all  vessels  ascending  the  Delaware  to  New  Jersey, 
the  Quaker  settlers  remonstrated  against  it  so  ear- 
nestly, that  the  Duke,  wearied  by  their  importunity, 
referred  the  matter  to  Commissioners.  To  the 
Commissioners  they  then  addressed  themselves, 
and  in  support  of  their  claim  to  exemption,  deliv- 
ered an  argument,  couched  in  the  language  of  in- 
telligent freemen,  and  breathing  the  very  spirit  of 
Anglo-Saxon  liberty.' 

After  reciting  the  grant  of  New  Jersey  from  the 
King  to  the  Duke  of  York,  and  from  the  Duke  to 
Lord  Berkley  and  Sir  George  Carteret,  they  pro- 
ceed to  say : 


'  This  argument  was  prepared  by  concurred  in  the  presentation  of  the 

William   Penn,  George  Hutchinson,  pleading  is  undeniable  ;  and  hence  it 

and  several  other  coadjutors.      Gra-  may  be  fairly  presumed  that  he  assist- 

hame  says  that  "like  most   Quaker  ed  in  its  composition.      But  that  he 

productions,  it  is  extremely  prolix  ;"  was  the  sole  author  of  it,  as  some  of 

but  I  do  not  think  it  is  liable  to  this  his  modern  biographers  have  insinu- 

objection.     I  have  given  all  the  ma-  ated,  is  rendered  extremely  improba- 

terial  parts  of  it,  making  here  and  ble  by  its  style,   in  which   not   the 

there  a  slight  verbal  alteration ;  and  slightest  resemblance  is  discoverable 

I  am  much  deceived   with  regard  to  to  any  of  his  acknowledged    produc- 

its   merit,  if  it  may  not,  both  as   to  tions." — Grahatne's  Col.   Hist.,  I.  p. 

matter  and  style,  challenge  a  compari-  478,  note.  The  document  is  preserved 

son  with  any  cotemporary  production,  at  length  in  Smith's  History  of  New 

Grahame  further  says : "  That  Penn  Jersey. 


ARGUMENT  AGAINST  CUSTOMS.  33 

"Thus,  then,  we  come  to  buy  that  moiety 
which  belonged  to  Lord  Berkley  for  a  valuable 
consideration ;  and  in  the  conveyance  he  made  us, 
powers  of  government  are  expressly  granted ;  for 
that  only  could  have  induced  us  to  buy  it ;  and  the 
reason  is  plain;  because  to  all  prudent  men  the 
government  of  any  place  is  more  inviting  than  the 
soil.  For  what  is  good  land  without  good  laws  ? 
The  better  the  worse.  And  if  we  could  not  assure 
people  of  an  easy  and  free  and  safe  government, 
both  with  respect  to  their  spiritual  and  worldly 
property — that  is,  an  uninterrupted  hberty  of  con- 
science, and  an  inviolable  possession  of  their  civil 
rights  and  freedoms  by  a  just  and  wise  government 
—  a  mere  wilderness  would  be  no  encouragement ; 
for  it  were  a  madness  to  leave  a  free,  good,  and 
improved  country,  to  plant  in  a  wilderness  ;  and 
there  adventure  many  thousands  of  pounds  to  give 
an  absolute  title  to  another  person  to  tax  us  at  will 
and  pleasure.  This  single  consideration,  we  hope, 
will  excuse  our  desire  of  the  government  j  not  as- 
serted for  the  sake  of  power  but  safety ;  and  that, 
not  only  for  ourselves  but  for  others,  that  the  plan- 
tation might  be  encouraged. 

"  We  dispose  of  part  of  our  interest  to  several 
hundreds  of  people,  honest  and  industrious,  who 
transport  themselves,  and  with  them,  such  house- 
3 


3%  ARGUMENT  AGAINST  CUSTOMS. 

hold  stuff  and  tools  as  are  requisite  for  planters  to 
have.  They  land  at  Delaware  Bay,  the  bounds  of 
the  country  we  bought ;  the  passage  God  and  na- 
ture made  to  it ;  at  their  arrival  they  are  saluted 
with  a  demand  of  custom  of  five  per  cent,  and 
that,  not  as  the  goods  may  be  there  worth,  but  ac- 
cording to  the  invoice  as  they  cost  before  shipped 
in  England. 

"  This  is  our  grievance  ;  and  for  this  we  made 
our  apphcation  to  have  speedy  redress ;  not  as  a 
burden  only  with  respect  to  the  quantum,  or  the 
way  of  levying  it,  or  any  circumstances  made  hard 
by  the  irregularity  of  the  officers  ;  but  as  a  wrong. 
For  we  complain  of  a  wrong  done  us ;  and  ask,  yet 
with  modesty,  quo  jure  ?  Tell  us  the  title  by  what 
right  or  law  are  we  thus  used  ?  That  may  a  little 
mitigate  our  pain.  Your  answer  hitherto  has  been 
that  this  was  a  conquered  country,  and  that  the 
king  being  the  conqueror  has  power  to  make  laws, 
raise  money,  &c.;  that  this  power  the  king  has 
vested  in  the  duke,  and  by  that  right  and  sovereign- 
ty the  duke  demands  the  customs  we  complain  of. 
But  suppose  the  king  were  an  absolute  conqueror 
in  the  case  depending,  does  his  power  extend  equal- 
ly over  his  own  English  people  as  over  the  con- 
quered ?  Are  not  they  some  of  the  letters  that 
make  up   the  word  conqueror?     Did  Alexander 


ARGUMENT  AGAINST  CUSTOMS.  35 

conquer  alone,  or  Caesar  beat  by  himself ?  No! 
Shall  their  armies  of  countrymen  and  natives  lie  at 
the  same  mercy  as  the  vanquished,  and  be  exposed 
to  the  same  will  and  power  with  their  captive  ene- 
mies ?  The  Norman  duke,  more  a  conqueror  of 
England  by  his  subjection  to  our  laws  and  pretence 
to  a  title  by  them,  than  of  heraldry  by  his  arms, 
used  not  the  companions  of  his  victory  so  ill.  Na- 
tural right  and  human  prudence  oppose  such  doc- 
trine all  the  world  over  ;  for  what  is  it  but  to  say 
that  people,  free  by  law  under  their  prince  at  home, 
are  at  his  mercy  in  the  plantations  abroad  ?  We 
could  say  more,  but  choose  to  let  it  drop. 

"  But  our  case  is  better  yet.  For  the  King's 
grant  to  the  Duke  of  York  is  plainly  restrictive  to 
the  laws  and  government  of  England.  Now  the 
constitution  and  government  of  England,  as  we 
humbly  conceive,  are  so  far  from  countenancing 
any  such  authority,  that  it  is  made  a  fundamental 
in  them,  that  the  king  of  England  cannot  justly 
take  his  subjects'  goods  without  their  consent. 
This  needs  no  more  to  be  proved  than  a  principle ; 
'tis  jus  indigine,  a  home-born  right,  declared  to  be 
law  by  divers  statutes.  To  give  up  this,  is  to 
change  the  government,  to  sell,  or  rather  resign 
ourselves  to  the  will  of  another,  and  that  for  no- 
thing.    For  under  favor,  we  buy  nothing  of  the 


Hg  ARGUMENT  AGAINST  CUSTOMS. 

duke,  if  not  the  right  of  undisturbed  colonizing,  and 
that  as  EngHshmen,  with  no  diminution,  but  rather 
expectation  of  some  increase  of  those  freedoms  and 
privileges  enjoyed  in  our  own  country :  for  the  soil 
is  none  of  his ;  'tis  the  natives'  by  the  jus  gentium, 
the  law  of  nations ;  and  it  would  be  an  ill  argument 
to  convert  to  Christianity,  to  expel,  instead  of  pur- 
chasing them,  out  of  those  countries.  If  then  the 
country  be  theirs,  it  is  not  the  duke's ;  he  cannot 
sell  it :  then  what  have  we  bought  ?  To  conclude 
this  point  we  humbly  say,  that  we  have  not  lost 
any  part  of  our  liberty  by  leaving  our  country :  for 
we  leave  not  our  king  nor  our  government  by  quit- 
ting our  soil ;  but  we  transplant  to  a  place  given 
by  the  same  king,  with  express  limitation  to  erect 
no  polity  contrary  to  the  same  established  govern- 
ment, but  as  near  as  may  be  to  it ;  and  that  latitude 
bounded  by  these  words, ybr  the  good  of  the  adven- 
turer and  planter ;  which  that  exaction  of  custom 
can  never  be. 

"  Custom  in  all  governments  in  the  world  is  laid 
upon  trade,  but  this  upon  planting  is  unprecedented. 
The  plain  English  of  the  tragedy  is  this  ;  we  twice 
buy  this  moiety  of  New  Jersey;  first  of  Lord 
Berkley,  and  next  of  the  natives ;  and  for  what  ? 
The  better  to  mortgage  ourselves  and  posterity  to 


ARGUMENT  AGAINST  CUSTOMS.  37 

the  duke's  governors,  and  give  them  a  title  to  our 
persons  and  estates  that  never  had  any  before. 

"  Besides,  there  is  no  end  of  this  power ;  for 
since  we  are  by  this  precedent  assessed  without 
any  law,  and  thereby  excluded  our  English  right  of 
common  assent  to  taxes ;  what  security  have  we  of 
any  thing  we  possess  ?  We  can  call  nothing  our 
own,  but  are  tenants  at  will,  not  only  for  the  soil, 
but  for  all  our  personal  estates.  This  is  to  trans- 
plant, not  from  good  to  better,  but  from  good  to 
bad.  This  sort  of  conduct  has  destroyed  govern- 
ment, but  never  raised  one  to  any  true  greatness. 

"  Lastly,  the  duke's  circumstances,  and  the  peo- 
ple's jealousies  considered,  we  humbly  submit,  if 
there  can  be  in  their  opinion,  a  greater  evidence  of 
a  design  to  introduce  an  unlimited  government, 
than  both  to  exact  such  an  unterminated  tax  from 
English  planters,  and  continue  it  after  so  many  re- 
peated complaints ;  and  on  the  contrary,  if  there 
can  be  any  thing  so  happy  to  the  duke's  present  af- 
fairs, as  the  opportunity  he  has  to  free  that  country 
with  his  own  hand,  and  to  make  us  all  owers  of  our 
liberty  to  his  favor  and  justice.  So  will  Englishmen 
here  know  what  to  hope  for,  by  the  justice  and 
kindness  he  shows  to  Englishmen  there;  and  all 
men  see  the  just  model  of  his  government  in  New 
York,  to  be  the  scheme  and  draught  in  little  of  his 


38  ARGUMENT  AGAINST  CUSTOMS. 

administration  in  Old  England  at  large,  if  the  crown 
should  ever  devolve  on  his  head. 

"  The  conclusion  is  this,  that  for  all  these  rea- 
sons in  law,  equity,  and  prudence,  you  would  please 
to  second  our  request  to  the  duke,  that  like  him- 
self, he  would  void  this  taxation,  and  put  the  coun- 
try in  such  an  English  and  free  condition,  that  he 
may  be  as  well  loved  and  honored,  as  feared,  by  all 
the  inhabitants  of  his  territory ;  that  being  great  in 
their  affections,  he  may  be  great  by  their  industry; 
which  will  yield  him  that  wealth,  that  parent  of 
power,  that  he  may  be  as  great  a  prince  by  pro- 
perty as  by  title." 

This  argument,  "  worthy,"  as  Grahame  says,  "  of 
the  founders  of  a  North  American  commonwealth," 
was  attended,  as  it  deserved  to  be,  with  triumphant 
success.  The  obnoxious  custom  was  renounced, 
and  West  Jersey  became  a  free  and  independent 
Province.^ 

'  The  Commissioners  referred  the  soon  after  executed  in  favor  of  the  re- 
queslion  to  Sir  William  Jones,  who  presentatives  of  Sir  George  Carteret, 
gave  it  as  his  opinion,  "  that  as  the  "  Thus,"  says  Grahame,  "the  whole  of 
grant  to  Berkley  and  Carteret  had  New  Jersey  was  promoted  at  once 
reserved  no  profit  or  jurisdiction,  the  from  the  condition  of  a  conquered 
legality  of  the  taxes  could  not  be  de-  country  to  the  rank  of  a  free  and  in- 
fended."  The  Duke  of  York  promptly  dependent  province,  and  rendered  in 
acquiesced  in  the  decision,  and  by  a  political  theory  the  adjunct,  instead  of 
new  indenture  relinquished  all  his  the  mere  dependency,  of  the  British 
claims  on  West  Jersey  ;  and  as  the  empire.  The  powerful  and  spirited 
argument  was  equally  applicable  to  pleading  by  which  this  benefit  was 
East  Jersey,  a   similar    release   was  gained,    derives    additional    interest 


FIRST  PERIOD  CONCLUDED.  39 

We  have  dwelt  longer  upon  this  first  period  of 
our  history,  than  its  importance  may  seem  to  de- 
mand ;  but  there  is  a  charm  about  it  which  it  is  dif- 
ficult to  resist.  There  is  always  more  or  less  of 
romance  connected  with  the  infancy  of  every  State. 
What  the  heroic  ages  were  to  Greece ;  what  the 
period  of  its  first  kings  was  to  France,  and  of  its 
Anglo-Saxon  monarchs  to  England ;  such  to  New 
Jersey,  is  the  period  which  preceded  the  surrender 
of  the  government  to  the  crown.  It  is  the  twilight 
of  our  history,  and  the  very  indistinctness  with 
which  objects  are  then  revealed  to  us,  but  height- 
ens their  interest  and  leaves  room  for  imagination  ; 
and  time,  while  it  deepens  the  shadows  which  rest 
upon  them,  but  causes  them  to  assume  more  varied 
and  picturesque  forms.- 

We  come  now  to  the  period  of  the  Surrender. 

from  recollection  of  the  conflict  then  justly  imposed  on  them  without  their 
subsisting  in  England  between  the  own  consent  and  the  authority  of  their 
advocates  of  liberty  and  the  abettors  own  provincial  assembly.  The  re- 
of  arbitrary  power.  It  would  not  be  port  of  the  commissioners  and  the  re- 
easy  to  point  out,  in  any  of  the  politi-  lief  that  followed,  were  virtual  con- 
cal  writings  or  harangues  of  which  cessions  in  favor  of  this  principle, 
that  period  was  abundantly  prolific,  which  in  an  after  age  was  destined  to 
a  more  manly  and  intrepid  exertion  obtain  a  more  signal  triumph  in  the 
for  the  preservation  of  liberty,  than  national  independence  of  North  Ame- 
we  behold  in  this  first  successful  de-  rica." — Grahamt's  Col.  Hist.,  479. 
fence  of  the  rights  of  New  Jersey.  "  For  some  notice  of  the  principal 
One  of  the  most  remarkable  features  laws  that  were  enacted,  both  in  East 
of  the  plea  which  the  colonists  main-  and  West  Jersey,  under  the  Proprie- 
tained,  was  the  unqualified  and  deli-  tary  Government,  see  Appendix  A. 
berate  assertion,  that  no  tax  could  be 


40  SURRENDER  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

The  claim  of  the  Proprietors  to  exercise  the  pow- 
ers of  Government  had  been  for  some  years  ques- 
tioned ;  a  Quo  Warranto  was  actually  depending 
in  the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  the  object  of  which 
was  to  test  its  validity ;  and  the  increasing  num- 
ber,^ and  conflicting  views  of  the  Proprietors,  ren- 
dered the  possession  of  such  powers  of  doubtful 
utility.^  Under  these  circumstances,  an  absolute 
and  unconditional  surrender  of  them  was  made  to 
the  crown  ;^  and  Lord  Cornbury,  the  grandson  of 
the  illustrious  Clarendon,  and  the  cousin  of  Queen 
Anne,  was  appointed  the  first  Royal  Governor  of 
the  united  Provinces  of  East  and  West  Jersey.  Al- 
though, by  his  Instructions,  he  was    forbidden  to 


'  The  shares  and  parts   of  shares  must  be  remembered,  that  it  was  these 

had  been  so  divided  and  subdivided,  very  proprietors  themselves  by  whom 

that  some  of  the  proprietors  owned  the    surrender  was   made. — Pitkins" 

but  one  fortieth  part  of  a  forty-eighth  U.  States,  I.  60. 

part  of  a  twenty-fourth  share. — Pit-  ^  Grants  and  Concessions,  p.  609. 

kin^  U.  States,  I.  64.  Although    the   surrender   was   in  its 

*  Pitkins  says  that  while  the  New  terms   absolute    and    unqualified,  yet 

England  colonists  clung  to  their  char-  by  the  Instructions  to  Lord  Cornbury 

ters  as  to  the  ark  of  their  political  — which  were  shown  to  the  proprie- 

safety,  in  opposition  to  the   claims  of  tors  and  acquiesced  in   by  them  be- 

the  king  and  parliament,  those  under  fore  the  surrender  was  made — it  was 

the  proprietary  governments,  and  es-  provided,  that  the  right  and  property 

pecially   in  Pennsylvania,  New  Jer-  of  the   proprietors  to  the  soil  of  the 

sey,  and  Carolina,  sought  refuge  and  Province  should  be  confirmed  to  them, 

protection  from  the  oppression  of  the  together  with   all  such  privileges  as 

proprj'eiors, under  a  royal  government,  were   expressed   in' the  conveyances 

However  true  this  may  have   been  in  made   by  the  Duke  of  York,  except- 

reference  to  Pennsylvania  and  Caro-  ing  only  the  right  of  government. — 

lina,  in  the   ease  of  New  Jersey,  it  Grants  and  Concessions,  p.  628. 


COMMISSION  OF  LORD  CORNBURY.  41 

erect  any  Court  or  office  of  judicature  not  before 
erected  or  established,  without  a  special  order,  yet 
by  his  Commission,  full  power  and  authority  were 
given  to  him,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  his 
Council,  to  erect,  constitute,  and  estabhsh  such 
Courts  of  Judicature  in  the  Province,  as  should  be 
thought  fit  and  necessary  for  the  hearing  and  de- 
termining of  all  causes,  as  well  criminal  as  civil, 
according  to  law  and  equity.^  Similar  authority 
was  given  to  all  succeeding  Governors.  Thus,  the 
important  power  of  establishing  Courts  for  the  ad- 
ministration of  justice,  which  before  the  Surrender 
had  been  so  jealously  reserved  both  in  East  and 
West  Jersey  to  the  General  Assembly,  was  now 
conferred,  without  limitation  or  control,  upon  the 
Governor  and  Council.  But,  as  draughts  of  the 
Commission  as  well  as  of  the  Instructions,  were 
submitted  to  the  Proprietors  before  the  Surrender 


*  The  Commission  and  Instructions  with  signal  ability.     I  have  supposed 

to  Lord  Cornbury,  as  Mr.  Griffith  ob-  therefore  that  I  might  be  conferring  a 

serves(LawReg.iv. 1178, note), ought  favorupon  my  professional  readers  by 

to  be  prefi.xed  to  our  Laws,  as  showing  inserting  them  at  large   in  an  appen- 

in  what  manner  the  government  was  dix.     It  is  true  they  are  to  be  found 

organized  and  administered,  and  how  in  Smith's  History  of  New  Jersey,  and 

our  Courts  were  constituted  prior  to  Leaming  and  Spicer's  Laws,  usually 

1776.     They  were  in  fact  the  Consti-  called  Grants  and  Concessions  ;  but 

tution  of  the  Colony  of  New  Jersey,  both   of  these   works  are   becoming 

and  are  well  worthy  of  being  preserv-  very  scarce,  and  are  to  be  found  only 

ed.     They  were  evidently  the  result  in  a  few  libraries. — See  Appendix  B. 
of  much  consideration,  and  are  drawn 


4,2  ORDINANCE  OF  LORD  CORNBURY. 

was  consummated,  they  had  no  right  to  complain. 
And  it  is  but  fair  to  say  that,  whatever  abuses  of 
authority  may  have  been  committed  by  the  Royal 
Governors  in  reference  to  other  matters,  this  power 
seems,  in  every  instance,  to  have  been  exerted  with 
great  judgment  and  discretion. 

It  is  then  to  the  Ordinances  of  the  Governor  and 
Council  that  we  are  to  look,  for  the  frame  and  con- 
stitution of  our  Courts  after  the  Surrender.  The 
first  Ordinance  for  the  establishment  of  Courts  of 
Judicature  in  the  Province  of  New  Jersey,  was  that 
of  Lord  Cornbury  in  1704.^  It  is  really  gratifying 
to  be  able  to  find  a  single  redeeming  feature  in  the 
administration  of  this  weak,  corrupt,  and  tyrannical 
man,  who  disgraced  the  sovereign  whose  represen- 
tative he  was,  and  dishonored  the  noble  ancestry 
from  which  he  was  sprung.  But  he  is  entitled  to 
the  credit  of  having  laid  the  foundation  of  our  whole 
judicial  sytem  ;  and  of  having  laid  it  well.  True, 
the  materials  for  such  a  work  were  found  in  the 
several  Courts  which  existed  under  the  Proprietary 
Government,  and  of  which  we  have  already  spoken : 
but  he  reduced  them  to  order,  and  gave  them 
shape,  and  beauty,  and  proportion.  All  that  has 
been  done  from  that  day  to  this,  has  been  but  to 

'  Appendix  C. 


ORDINANCE  OF  LORD  CORNBURY.  43 

fill  up,  as  it  were,  the  outline  which  he  sketched ; 
to  add  some  additional  apartments  to  the  judicial 
edifice  which  he  constructed. 

He  gave  to  Justices  of  the  Peace  cognizance  in 
all  cases  of  debt  and  trespass  to  the  value  of  forty 
shillings,  with  the  right  of  appeal  to  the  Court  of 
Sessions  where  the  sum  in  controversy  was  over 
twenty  shillings. 

He  ordained  that  there  should  be  a  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  kept  and  holden  in  every  County 
of  the  Province,  at  the  place  where  the  General 
Courts  of  Sessions  were  held,  and  to  begin  imme- 
diately after  the  Sessions  had  ended,  with  power  to 
hear  and  determine  all  actions,  triable  at  Common 
Law,  of  what  nature  or  kind  soever ;  subject  to  a 
removal  to  the  Supreme  Court,  either  before  or  af- 
ter judgment,  where  the  matter  in  dispute  exceeded 
ten  pounds,  or  the  title  to  land  came  in  question. 

The  General  Sessions  of  the  Peace  were  di- 
rected to  be  held  four  times  a  year  in  every  Coun- 
ty, at  the  times  and  places  mentioned  in  the  Ordi- 
nance. For  the  County  of  Middlesex  they  were  to 
be  held  at  Amboy ;  for  Bergen  at  Bergen ;  for  Es- 
sex at  Newark ;  for  Monmouth  at  Shrewsbury ;  for 
Burlington  at  Burlington  ;  for  Gloucester  at  Glou- 
cester ;  for  Salem  at  Salem ;  and  for  Cape  May,  at 


44  ORDINANCE  OF  LORD  CORNBURY. 

the  House  of  Shamger  Hand.^  In  Essex  and  Salem 
alone  have  the  seats  of  justice  remained  unchanged, 
nor  there,  without  some  fierce  struggles  for  a  re- 
moval, the  memory  of  which  remains  to  this  day. 

At  Perth  Amboy  and  Burlington,  alternately, 
was  to  be  held  a  Supreme  Court  of  Judicature, 
which  was  fully  empowered  to  have  cognizance  of 
all  pleas,  civil,  criminal,  and  mixed,  as  amply,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  as  the  Courts  of  Queen's 
Bench,  Common  Pleas,  and  Exchequer,  in  the  king- 
dom of  England  have,  or  ought  to  have.  And  if 
the  question  were  now  asked,  what  is  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  New 
Jersey  as  at  present  constituted,  the  only  answer 
that  could  be  given  would  be  in  the  language  of 
Lord  Cornbury's  Ordinance :  they  have  all  the  ju- 
risdiction which  the  Courts  of  Queen's  Bench,  Com- 
mon Pleas,  and  Exchequer  in  England  have,  or 
ought  to  have.  So  little  addicted  to  change  have 
we  shown  ourselves  in  reference  to  our  Courts! 
So  truly  conservative  in  its  character  has  been  the 
history  of  our  State  !  Into  this  Court  might  be  re- 
moved from  the  Courts  of  Common  Pleas  and  Ses- 


'  Nothing   is  here   said  as  to  the  Middlesex ;  for  by  the  Ordinance  of 

place  where  the  Courts  for  the  Goun-  Governor  Hunter  in  1714,  Courts  for 

ty  of  Somerset  were  to  be  held.  They  both  Middlesex  and  Somerset,  were 

were  probably  held  at  the  same  place  directed  to  be  held  at  Perth  Amboy. 
with  the  Courts  for  the   County  of 


ORDINANCE  OF  LORD  CORNBURY.  45 

sions  of  the  Peace,  any  plea,  action,  information, 
or  indictment,  therein  depending,  or  upon  which 
judgment  had  been  rendered. 

There  were  to  be  two  Terms  of  the  Supreme 
Court  every  year,  each  Session  not  to  exceed  five 
days ;  and  once  every  year,  if  need  should  so  require, 
a  Circuit  was  to  be  held  by  one  of  the  Justices  of  the 
Court  in  every  County.  The  Judges  of  the  several 
Courts  were  authorized  to  make  rules  of  practice 
for  regulating  their  proceedings ;  and  finally,  it  was 
ordained,  that  all  issues  of  fact  should  be  tried  by 
twelve  men  of  the  neighborhood,  "  as  it  ought  to  be 
done  by  law."^ 

Such  was  the  constitution  of  our  Common  Law 
Courts  nearly  a  century  and  a  half  ago,  and  such 
in  all  its  leading  features  it  remains  to  this  day."    I 


'  It  will  be  seen  that  no  provision  at  the  hearing  thereof  and  give  the 
is  made  in  this  Ordinance  for  a  Court  reasons  for  their  judgment.  And  a 
of  Appeals  in  the  last  resort.  The  further  Appeal  was  to  be  allowed 
constitution  of  this  Court  was  not  left  from  the  Governor  and  Council,  where 
to  the  Governor  and  Council,  as  was  the  sum  in  controversy  exceeded  two 
that  of  the  other  Courts,  but  it  was  hundred  pounds  sterling,  to  the  Queen 
erected  by  the  Queen  in  Council,  and  in  Privy  Council, 
made  part  of  the  Instructions  to  Lord  *  These  Courts  continued  vrithout 
Combury.  It  was  there  provided  that  any  essential  change  to  the  Revolu- 
Appeals  might  be  made  in  Cases  of  tion.  The  Constitution  of  1776  mere- 
Error  from  the  other  Courts  to  the  ly  directed  how  the  Judges  were  to 
Governor  and  Council ;  but  if  any  of  be  appointed,  thereby  tacitly  adopting 
the  members  of  Council  were  Judges  them,  with  all  the  judicial  power  they 
of  the  Court  from  which  the  Appeal  had  at  the  time.  And  shortly  after 
was  taken,  they  were  not  to  vote  up-  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  the 
on  the  Appeal,  but  might  be  present  Legislature  enacted,  "  that  the  sever- 


46  ORDINANCE  OF  LORD  CORNBURY. 

have  dwelt  the  longer  upon  this  Ordinance,  because 
it  seems  to  have  escaped  entirely  the  notice,  not 
only  of  the  Historians  of  New  Jersey,  but  of  those 
who  have  professedly  written  upon  the  subject 
of  our  Courts  of  Justice.  Even  William  Griffith, 
the  learned  compiler  of  the  Law  Register,  whose 
researches  into  the  origin  and  progress  of  our  Ju- 
diciary System  are  so  well  known  to  my  profes- 
sional hearers,  was  evidently  not  aware  of  the  ex- 
istence of  such  an  Ordinance.  After  reciting  the 
laws  that  were  passed  during  the  Proprietary  Go- 
vernment of  East  Jersey  in  reference  to  the  Court 
of  Common  Right,  he  goes  on  to  say,  that  it  was 
under  these  laws  alone,  that  the  Supreme  Court 
acted  from  the  Surrender  in  1702  to  the  29th  of 
April,  1723  ;^  losing  sight,  not  only  of  the  Ordi- 
nance of  Lord  Cornbury,  but  also  of  a  similar  Or- 
dinance of  Governor  Hunter  in  1714.^  The  truth 
is,  that  these  Ordinances  are  -not  to  be  found  in  the 


al  Courts  of  Law  and  Equity  of  this  lor,  and  that  the  Court  of  Errors  and 

State  shall  be  confirmed  and  estab-  Appeals  in  the  last  resort,  instead  of 

lished,  and  continue  to  be  held  with  consisting  of  the  Governor  and  Coun- 

the  like  powers  under  the  present  go-  cil,  was  to  be  composed  of  the  Chan- 

vernment,  as  they  were  held  at  and  cellor,  the  Justices   of   the  Supreme 

before  the  Declaration  of  Independ-  Court,  and  six  Judges  to  be  appointed 

ence." — Pat.  Laws,  p.  38.  for  that  purpose. 

Nor  did  the  Constitution  of  1844         '  Griffith's   Law  Reg.,   IV.  1175, 

make  any  alteration  in  the  character  Note  1. 
of  our  Courts,  save  only  that  the  Go-         *  Appendix  D. 
vemor  was  no  longer  to  be  Chancel- 


ORDINANCES.  47 

Book  of  Commissions  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary 
of  State,  from  which  source  Mr.  Griffith  seems  to 
have  derived  all  his  knowledge  of  the  constitution 
of  our  Colonial  Courts.  So  too,  in  tracing  the 
history  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  Mr.  Grif- 
fith states  that  the  Assembly  soon  after  the  Sur- 
render passed  a  law  establishing  Courts,  which  was 
disallowed  by  the  king ;  and  that  "  on  the  29th  of 
April,  1723,  George  the  Second,  by  the  advice  of 
the  Lords  of  the  Privy  Council  at  the  Court  of  St. 
James,  established  an  Ordinance,  which  may  be 
considered  as  the  foundation  of  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Courts  of  New  Jersey  in  civil  and  criminal 
cases,  at  common  law."^ 

This  statement  is  singularly  inaccurate.  No 
such  act  was  ever  passed  by  the  Colonial  Assem- 
bly." If  there  had  been,  it  would  unquestionably 
have  been  promptly  vetoed  by  the  Governor.  It 
would  never  have  found  its  way  to  the  King  in 
Council.  The  Royal  Governors  were  not  slow  in 
asserting  their  prerogatives ;  and  they  alone,  with 
the  advice  of  their  Council,  had  the  power  of  erect- 
ing Courts.     And  then,  the  Ordinance  of  George 


'  Griffith's    Law   Reg.    IV.    1169,  which  was  disallpwed  by  the  king  in 

Note.  Council,  and  is  referred  to  in  the  Or- 

*  There  was  an  act  passed  entitled,  dinance  of  April  29th,  1723  ;  and  it 

"  An  Act  for  shortening  lawsuits  and  must  have  been  to  this  act  that  Mr. 

regulating  the  practice  of  the  law,"  Griffith  had  reference. 


48  ORDINANCES. 

the  Second,  so  far  from  being  the  foundation  of  the 
jurisdiction  of  our  Courts,  was,  with  a  few  slight 
alterations,  but  a  copy  of  the  original  Ordinance  of 
Lord  Cornbury. 

It  is  this  Ordinance  of  April  29th,  1723,  which 
is  inserted  in  the  Appendix  to  one  of  the  volumes 
of  the  Reports  of  our  Supreme  Court,  as  showing 
the  original  extent  of  the  jurisdiction  of  our  Courts, 
and  which,  the  Reporter  observes,  remained,  so 
far  as  he  had  been  able  to  discover,  unrepealed.^ 
Whereas,  the  fact  is,  that  this  Ordinance  continued 
in  force  but  a  single  year.  It  was  found  to  be  in- 
convenient in  some  respects,^  and  was  superseded 
by  another  Ordinance  of  the  King  in  Council,  which 
bears  date  on  the  23d  of  April,  1724  -^  and  this  in 
turn  was  supphed  by  still  another  Ordinance  of  the 
21st  of  August,  1725.''  And  then,  in  less  than  three 
years  afterwards,  we  have  the  Ordinance  of  Febru- 
ary 10th,  1728,^  by  which  two  Supreme  Courts 
were  estabhshed  in  the  Province,  one  for  the  West- 
ern division,  to  be  held  four  times  a  year  at  Burhng- 

*  1  Halstead's  Rep.  Appendix,  p.  sioners  to  take  bail  in  the  several  coun- 
1.  This  Ordinance  is  recorded  in  ties ;  and,  what  was  more  important 
Book  C  of  Commissions,  No.  2,  pages  still,  it  made  no  provision  for  Circuit 
57 — 60.  Courts  to  try  issues  of  fact  joined  in 

*  It  was  not  only  found  inconve-  the  Supreme  Court, 
nient  as  to  the  times  of  the  sitting  of  '  Appendix  E. 
the  Courts,  but  it  contained  no  autho-  ■*  Appendix  F. 
rity  for  the  appointment  of  Commis-  •  Appendix  G, 


ORDINANCE  OF  LORD  CORNBURY. 


49 


ton,  and  the  other  for  the  Eastern  division  to  be 
held  four  times  a  year  at  Perth  Amboy.^  With  such 
rapidity  did  these  Ordinances  follow  each  other. 
They  are  all,  however,  based  in  a  great  measure 
upon  the  original  Ordinance  of  Lord  Cornbury,  and 
the  only  points  in  which  several  of  them  differ  from 
each  other,  are  as  to  the  times  of  holding  the  re- 
spective Courts.  These  Ordinances  were  publish- 
ed in  pamphlets  at  the  time  of  their  adoption,  but 
very  few  copies  of  them  are  now  in  existence ;  and 
most  of  them  have  never  been  transcribed  in  the 
Books  of  Commissions  in  the  Secretary's  office.^ 

In  reference  to  the  original  Ordinance  of  Lord 
Cornbury,  I  will  add,  that  I  was  led  from  a  variety 
of  circumstances  to  infer  the  existence  of  such  a 
document,  and  yet  I  could  meet  with  no  one  who 
had  ever  seen  or  heard  of  it.  After  a  long  and 
fruitless  search  for  it  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary 
of  State,  and  among  the  records  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  I  had  abandoned  all  hope  of  finding  it,  when 

'  The  object  of  this  arrangement  and    read,   but   what    its    provisions 

probably  was  to  prevent  causes,  which  were  are  not  stated,  nor  have  I  been 

originated  in  one  division  of  the  pro-  able  to  tind  the  Ordinance  itself, 
vince,  from  being  tried  in  the  other.         ^  It  is  for  this  reason   that  I  have 

Both  Courts  were  held  by  the  same  deemed  it  advisable  to  insert  in  the 

Judges.  This  Ordinance  however  did  Appendix  such  of  these   Ordinances 

not  remain  in  force  many  years.     It  as  I  have  been  able  to  lay  my  hands 

appears  by  the   Minutes  of  the   Su-  upon,  and  which  are  not  to  be  found 

prcme  Court  that  on  the  18th  of  May,  in  the  Books  of  Commissions. 
1734,  a  new  Ordinance  was  produced 


50         ORDINANCE  OF  LORD  CORNBURY. 

I  happened  accidentally  to  light  upon  it,  bound  up 
in  an  old  volume  of  Acts  of  Assembly  in  the  State 
Library,  where  it  had  no  doubt  slept  undisturbed  for 
many  a  year.  The  name  of  Cornbury,  in  very 
large  capitals,  is  subscribed  to  it,  and  it  purports  to 
have  been  printed  "  by  William  Bradford,  Printer 
to  the  Queen's  Most  Excellent  Majesty  in  the  City 
of  New  York,  1704."  By  whom  this  Ordinance 
was  framed,  it  is  of  course  at  this  late  day  impossi- 
ble to  ascertain.  That  it  was  by  one  familiar  with 
the  Common  Law,  and  conversant  with  the  Courts 
of  Westminster  Hall,  may  fairly  be  inferred ;  and, 
as  we  shall  presently  see,  such  a  man  Lord  Corn- 
bury  had  in  his  Council ;  a  man,  who  probably  did 
more  than  all  others,  to  mould  the  judicial  systems 
both  of  New  Jersey  and  New  York.^ 

And  now  it  would,  I  doubt  not,  relieve  the  te- 
diousness  of  these  dry  and  uninteresting  details, 
and  illustrate  somewhat  the  history  of  the  times, 
could  I  introduce  you  for  a  few  moments  into  the 
Courts  thus  established,  and  enable  you  to  witness 
the  passing  scenes.  Fortunately,  the  materials  for 
such  a  purpose  exist  in  the  greatest  abundance. 
The  early  minutes  of  our  Supreme  Court  are  copi- 
ous even  to  a  fault,  and  open  a  mine  of  curious  and 


'  Roger  TVIompesson,  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  Jersey 
and  also  of  New  York. 


EARLY  MINUTES  OF  SUPREME  COURT.       51 

valuable  information,  which  has  never  yet  been  ex- 
plored.^ Time,  however,  will  not  allow  us  to  do 
more  than  to  glance  at  them ;  and,  in  doing  so,  we 
shall  find  Lord  Cornbury  figuring  in  his  true  char- 
acter, and  laboring  to  make  the  tribunals  which 
he  had  erected  the  mere  instruments  of  his  ven- 
geance. 

The  first  session  of  the  Supreme  Court  was  held 
at  Burlington  on  the  seventh  day  of  November,  1704. 
The  Commissions  of  Roger  Mompesson  as  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Judicature  of  the 
Province  of  New  Jersey,  and  of  William  Pinhorne 
as  second  Judge,  were  read,  and  they  took  their 
seats  upon  the  bench.  The  Court  then  adjourned 
to  eight  o'clock  of  the  following  day,  a  somewhat 
earlier  hour,  it  may  be  remarked,  than  that  at 
which  Courts  of  Justice  at  the  present  day  are  in 
the  habit  of  convening.  A  Grand  Jury  was  returned 
by  the  Sheriff  of  the  County  of  Burlington,  and  a 
charge  delivered  to  them  by  the  Chief  Justice.  No 
indictments,  however,  were  found,  and  no  civil 
causes  were  ready  for  trial,  and  after  the  admission 
of  a  number  of  Attornies,  the  Court  adjourned  to 


*  These   minutes   contain  full  re-  tried  at  bar  in   the    Supreme  Court, 

ports  of  some  of  the  early  trials  had  but  Grand  Juries  were  returned  by 

in  the  Supreme  Court,  including  the  the  Sheriff  of  the  County  in  which 

testimony  of  the  witnesses  who  were  the  Court   sat,  aud  the  Indictments 

examined.     Not  only  were  civil  suits  tried  there. 


52  PROCEEDINGS  OF  SUPREME  COURT, 

the  first  Tuesday  of  May,  at  Burlington.^  At  the 
next  term  of  the  Court  Alexander  Griffith  appeared 
with  his  commission  as  her  Majesty's  Attorney  Ge- 
neral for  the  Province  of  New  Jersey,  and  a  num- 
ber of  Indictments  were  sent  up  to  the  Grand  Jury. 
The  Bills  were  first  drawn,  and  the  witnesses  who 
were  to  be  examined  by  the  Grand  Jury  were 
sworn  in  open  Court,  according  to  the  English 
practice,  which  prevailed  in  New  Jersey  until  after 
the  Revolution.^  And  what,  think  you,  was  the 
nature-  of  these  Indictments  ?  They  were  all  In- 
dictments for  uttering  seditious  words  of,  and  con- 
cerning, Lord  Cornbury ;  for  already  had  his  con- 
duct begun  to  provoke  the  contempt  and  indigna- 
tion of  the  people. 


'  It  ought  to    have    adjourned  to  murder  ever  found  in  the  county  of 

Amboy  instead  of  Burlington,  for  by  Gloucester,  appears  to  have  been  tried 

the  Ordinance  it  was  to  be  held  at  before  Lord  Cornbury  in  person.     He 

these   two   places   alternately.      We  had  a  very  exalted  notion  of  his  pre- 

find,  however,  a  good  many  irregula-  rogative  ;  and  as  the  king  in  England 

rities  in  the  early  proceedings  of  our  is  always  supposed  to  be  present  in 

Courts,   which    cannot   now   be   ac-  his  Court  of  King's  Bench,  and  for- 

counted  for.     Thus  we  find  Justices  merly,  as  it  is  thought,  sat  there  in 

of  the  Peace  sitting  upon   the  Bench  person,  so  Lord  Cornbury,  as  his  re- 

ofthe  Supreme  Court.     They  formed  presentative,    may    have    considered 

part  of  the  Provincial  Court  of  West  himself  entitled  to  a  similar  privilege. 
Jersey  before  the  Surrender,  but  un-         2  The  practice  now  is  for  the  wit- 

der   the   new   order   of  things,  they  nesses  to  be  sworn  in  the  Grand  Jury 

would  seem  to  have  been  out  of  their  room,  the  Foreman  being  authorized 

place   there.     And  yet   their   names  to  administer  the  oath  to  them ;  and 

are  regularly  entered  on  the  minutes  Indictments   are  not  usually   drawn 

along  with  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  until  the  Grand  Jury  have  resolved  to 

Court.    And  the  first  Indictment  for  find  a  bill. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  SUPREME  COURT.  53 

The  first  Indictment  was  against  John  Holhngs- 
head,  and  the  words,  for  the  speaking  of  which  he 
was  thus  solemnly  arraigned,  were  these.  He  was 
charged  with  saying,  "  That  the  Governor  had  dis- 
solved the  Assembly,  but  that  they  could  get  ano- 
ther just  as  good,  and  if  the  Governor  liked  them 
not,  he  might  go  from  whence  he  came."  The 
next  Indictment  was  against  Walter  Pomphrey. 
At  an  election  for  members  of  the  Assembly  held 
in  Burlington,  he  was  charged  with  having  said  to 
one  of  the  voters,  "  I  will  give  you  a  pot  of  beer  to 
vote  for  the  old  Assemblymen,  because  they  would 
give  Lord  Cornbury  no  more  than  thirty-five  hun- 
dred pounds,  which  his  Lordship  made  a  huflf  at." 
Then  there  were  two  Indictments  against  Jedidiah 
Allen ;  one  for  saying,  "  that  the  Assembly  could 
have  done  their  business  well  enough,  but  that  the 
Governor  dissolved  it,  which  he  was  satisfied  was 
because  they  would  not  give  him  money  enough ;" 
and  the  other  for  saying,  "that  Colonel  Morris 
was  dismissed  from  being  of  the  Council  by  my 
Lord,  but  that  it  was  more  than  my  Lord  had  power 
to  do." 

Such  was  Lord  Cornbury's  notion  of  sedition. 
That  the  words  spoken  were  true,  was  probably 
deemed  an  aggravation  of  the  offence.  He  no 
doubt  adopted  in  its  fullest  extent  the  maxim,  "  the 


54  PROCEEDINGS  OF  SUPREME  COURT. 

greater  the  truth  the  greater  the  hbel."  I  hope  it 
is  unnecessary  to  say  that  the  Grand  Jury  returned 
each  of  the  Bills  with  an  ignoramus.  In  other 
words,  they  refused  to  find  them.  Here,  it  may  be 
supposed,  this  ridiculous  and  disgraceful  matter 
ended.  But  Lord  Cornbury  was  not  thus  to  be  put 
oflf.  He  was  flushed  with  the  victory  which  he  had 
just  achieved  at  a  recent  election,  the  only  one 
during  his  whole  administration  which  resulted  in 
the  choice  of  a  majority  of  members  to  his  mind.' 
And  the  new  Assembly  had  complimented  him  by 
an  address,  in  which  they  say,  that  he  had  gone 
through  the  affairs  of  government  "  with  great  dili- 
gence and  exquisite  management,  to  the  admiration 
of  his  friends  and  the  envy  of  his  enemies."  He 
was  resolved  to  vindicate  still  further  the  justice  of 
this  compliment.  When  therefore  these  Indict- 
ments were  thrown  out  by  the  Grand  Jury,  the  At- 
torney General  was  instructed  to  apply  to  the  Court 
for  leave  to  file  Informations.  Leave  was  accord- 
ingly granted,  and  informations  were  immediately 
drawn  up  against  all  the  Defendants,  almost  in  the 
very  words  of  the  Indictments.  The  Defendants 
being  charged,  pleaded  not  guilty.  Hollingshead 
moved  to   postpone    his    trial  until    the  following 

»  Smith's  N.  J.,  p.  283. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  SUPREME  COURT.  55 

term ;  and  the  motion  was  allowed,  but  upon  this 
condition,  that  he  should  put  in  ^n  issuable  plea, 
thereby  admitting  the  sufficiency  of  the  Informa- 
tion. An  order  was  accordingly  made,  that  he 
should  enter  into  a  recognizance  to  appear  at  the 
next  term,  to  put  in  an  issuable  plea,  and  to  keep 
the  peace  and  be  of  good  behavior  in  the  mean 
time.  This  Hollingshead  positively  refused  to  do, 
and  then  the  Court,  instead  of  ordering  on  the  trial 
of  the  cause,  committed  him  for  contempt,  as  it 
was  termed,  and,  it  is  added,  for  abusing  the  wit- 
nesses for  her  majesty.  How  or  where  he  had 
abused  the  Queen's  witnesses,  does  not  appear. 

Pomphrey,  not  caring,  I  suppose,  to  have  his 
case  postponed  upon  the  same  terms,  consented  to 
go  to  trial.  A  Jury  was  at  once  empanneled  and 
the  trial  proceeded.  A  number  of  witnesses  were 
examined  to  prove  the  speaking  of  the  words,  and 
their  testimony  is  spread  upon  the  minutes  of  the 
Court.  The  Defendant  had  no  counsel,  and  offered 
no  evidence;  and  after  a  charge  from  the  Chief 
Justice,  the  Jury  rendered  a  verdict  of  guilty.  But 
although  the  Court — to  their  shame  be  it  spoken — 
had  thus  far  humored  his  Lordship,  they  did  not 
dare  to  pronounce  judgment.  The  Defendant  wa« 
recognized  to  appear  from  term  to  term,  and  at  last 
forfeited  his  recognizance ;  with  an  understanding. 


56  PROCEEDINGS  OF  SUPREME  COURT. 

probably,  that  no  further  proceedings  would  be  had 
against  him. 

At  the  next  term  of  the  Court,  held  in  Burling- 
ton, Hollingshead  was  tried  upon  his  information, 
and  acquitted  ;  but  the  Court  refused  to  discharge 
him,  until  he  had  paid  all  the  costs  of  the  prosecu- 
tion. What  became  of  the  information  against 
Jedidiah  Allen,  does  not  appear.  In  May  Term, 
1707,  Thomas  KiHingworth  was  tried  upon  two 
several  Informations  exhibited  against  him  for 
speaking  contemptuously  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land— of  which  you  know  Lord  Cornbury  was  a 
most  zealous  defender — but  the  Jury  found  him 
not  guilty.  And  I  ought  to  say,  in  justice  to  the 
Juries  of  those  days,  that  although  numberless  In- 
formations for  similar  offences  were  tried  in  the 
Supreme  Court  during  the  administration  of  Lord 
Cornbury,  I  can  find  no  other  instance  in  which  a 
verdict  of  guilty  was  ever  rendered. 

Comment  upon  these  proceedings  is  unneces- 
sary. The  bare  recital  of  them  proclaims  more 
strongly  than  any  language  can  do,  the  tame  sub- 
seviency  of  the  Court  and  the  contemptible  charac- 
ter of  Cornbury.  But  I  must  close  at  once  this 
old  book  of  minutes,  or  I  shall  exhaust  your  pa- 
tience long  before  I  have  finished  my  task. 

Roger  Mompesson  was  the  first  Chief  Justice  of 


ROGER  MOMPESSON. 


57 


the  Province  of  New  Jersey.  Miss  Anne  Seward, 
in  one  of  her  letters,  after  describing  a  steep  ro- 
mantic dell  in  the  high  peak  of  Derbyshire,  on  the 
brow  of  which  stood  the  large  and  populous  village 
of  Eyam,  states,  that  it  was  in  this  rocky  gallery 
that  Mr.  Mornpesson,  the  rival  in  virtue  of  the  good 
Bishop  of  Marseilles,  preached  to  his  parishioners 
of  the  village,  when  it  was  visited  by  the  plague  in 
1666,  rationally  concluding  that  assembling  in  a 
close  church  would  be  likely  to  increase  the  infec- 
tion.^ From  this  pious  and  courageous  Rector  of 
Eyam,"  Roger  Mompesson  is  supposed  to  have  de- 


'  Seward's  Letters,  vol.  i.  Miss 
Seward  to  Miss  Weston,  Sept.  6, 
1783. 

*  William  Mompesson  was  Rector 
of  Eyam  in  Derbyshire,  during  the 
time  of  the  plague  in  London.  He 
never  caught  the  disorder  ;  and  was 
enabled  during  the  whole  period  of 
the  calamity,  to  perform  the  functions 
of  the  physician  and  the  priest  of  his 
afflicted  parish.  During  these  pious 
labors,  his  wife  was  taken  ill  and  died. 
There  are  some  touching  passages  in 
a  letter  written  by  him  upon  this  oc- 
casion to  Sir  George  Saville,  the  pa- 
tron of  the  living  of  Eyam.  "  This 
is  the  saddest  news  that  ever  my  pen 
could  write  !  The  destroying  angel 
having  taken  up  his  quarters  within 
my  habitation,  my  dearest  wife  is 
gone  to  her  eternal  rest,  and  is  in- 
vested with  a  crown  of  righteousness, 
having  made  a  happy  end." 


"  Indeed,  had  she  loved  herself  as 
well  as  me,  she  had  fled  from  the  pit 
of  destruction  with  her  sweet  babes, 
and  might  have  prolonged  her  days  5 
but  she  was  resolved  to  die  a  martyr 
to  my  interest.  My  drooping  spirits 
are  much  refreshed  with  her  joys, 
which  I  think  are  unutterable." 

"  Dear  sir,  let  your  dying  chaplain 
recommend  this  truth  to  you  and 
your  family,  that  no  happiness  nor 
solid  comfort  can  be  found  in  this  vale 
of  tears,  like  living  a  pious  life  ;  and 
pray  ever  retain  this  rule  ;  '  never  do 
any  thing  upon  which  you  dare  not 
ask  the  blessing  of  God.'  " 

"  With  tears  I  beg,  that  when  you 
are  praying  for  fatherless  infants,  you 
would  remember  my  two  pretty 
babes." — Kingston's  Am.  Biog.  Die, 
p.  209. 


58  ROGER  MOMPESSON. 

scended.  His  family  was  an  ancient  and  respecta- 
ble one,  and  he  had  attained  to  considerable  emi- 
nence in  England,  before  he  came  to  this  country. 
He  was  not  only  an  eminent  lawyer,  but  he  had 
been  the  Recorder  of  Southampton,  and  a  member 
of  two  several  Parliaments.  He  arrived  in  Phila- 
delphia in  the  summer  of  1703,  and  was  the  bearer 
of  a  letter  from  William  Penn  to  James  Logan,  for 
a  copy  of  which,  in  the  possession  of  the  American 
Philosophical  Society,  I  am  indebted  to  the  kind- 
ness of  Edward  Armstrong,  Esq.,  the  Recording 
Secretary  of  the  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society. 

"The  gentleman,"  writes  Penn,  "who  brings 
this,  is  constituted  Judge  of  the  Admiralty  of 
Pennsylvania,  the  Jerseys,  and  New  York,  and  is 
yet  willing  to  be  my  Attorney  General  to  rectify 
matters  in  law,  and  to  put  you  into  better  methods, 
in  which  respect,  he  is  by  the  judicious  here  thought 
to  be  very  able.  If  you  were  together,  it  were  for 
thy  advantage  in  many  respects.  He  is  a  moderate 
Churchman,  knows  the  world  here,  has  been  in  two 
several  Parliaments,  and  Recorder  of  Southampton. 
Only  steps  abroad  to  ease  his  fortune  of  some  of 
his  father's  debts  he  was  unwarily  engaged  for.  He 
is  a  favorite  of  Lord  Cornbury's  father,  the  Earl  of 
Clarendon.  I  have  granted  him  a  commission  for 
Chief  Justice,  in  case  the  people  will  lay  hold  of 


ROGER  MOMPESSON.  59 

such  an  opportunity  as  no  Government  in  America 
ever  had  of  an  Enghsh  lawyer,  and  encourage  him 
by  a  proper  salary." 

Logan  in  reply  announces  the  arrival  of  "  Coun- 
sellor Mompesson ;"  and  in  another  letter  to  Penn 
some  months  afterwards,  thus  speaks  of  him :  "  He 
is  ingenious,  able,  honest,  and  might  be  a  great 
blessing  to  us  could  we  enjoy  it."  He  also  sug- 
gests that  if  he  could  be  made  Chief  Justice  by  the 
Queen  for  Jersey,  as  well  as  Pennsylvania,  it  would 
be  a  great  encouragement  to  him,  and  that  he  could 
serve  more  Provinces  than  both  these  in  that 
station.^ 

The  people  of  Pennsylvania,  however,  seemed 
very  insensible  to  the  blessing  thus  tendered  them, 
and  were  slow  in  laying  hold  of  this  opportunity  of 
having  an  English  lawyer  for  their  Chief  Justice. 


'  Mompesson's    arrival   had    been  or,  in  case  of  my  cousin  Markham's 

heralded  by  a  letter  from  Penn  to  Lo-  decease  or  refusal,  if  he  were  Regis- 

gan,  in  which   he  says,  "  I   hope  you  ter  General,  I  should   like  it  for  his 

will  have  one  out  shortly,  that  will  be  deserved  encouragement." 
a  safer  guide   and  surer  footing  than         Samuel  Preston  writes  to  a  friend 

ever  yet    was    with   you;    an    able-  in  England  under  date  of  August  13 

grounded  lawyer,  and  a  good-temper-  1703:  "  To  the  no  small  surprise  of 

ed,  honest,  sober  gentleman."  Col.  Quarry,  arrived  here  as  soon  or 

Again    he    writes    under    date  of  before  report,  one  Roger  Mompesson, 

April  3d,  1703:  "  If  Counsellor  Mom-  Judge  for  the  Admiralty,  famed  as  a 

pesson  cannot  have  a  salary  from  the  man  of  great  abilities,  free,  it  is  said, 

people  as  Chief  Justice   of  the  Pro-  from  prejudices  of  party,  of  integrity, 

vince,  for  which  he  is  well  fitted,  then  friendly   lo  Gov.  Penn,  and,  as  it  is 

if  he  were   Secretary  of  the  govern-  thought,  like  to  be  a  happiness  to  this 

ment,  (if  that  post  is  a  clog  to  thee,)  place." 


00  ROGER  MOMPESSON. 

He  was  not  sworn  into  office  until  April,  1706,  and 
there  is  no  evidence  that  he  ever  took  his  seat  on 
the  Bench.^  The  administration  of  justice  was  at 
this  time,  and  for  many  years  afterwards,  in  a  very 
unsettled  state  in  Pennsylvania,  and  the  people,  as 
Logan  says  in  one  of  his  letters  to  Penn,  had  be- 
come "  so  superlatively  honest,"  that  there  was 
little  business  for  the  Cpurts  to  do ;  so  that  the 
Chief  Justice  had  not  much  hope  of  mending  his 
fortune  in  that  Province.  In  the  mean  time  Lord 
Cornbury,  the  son  of  his  friend  and  patron,  had 
been  appointed  Governor  of  New  Jersey  and  New 
York,  and  at  once  made  him  the  Chief  Justice  of 
both  those  Provinces ;   which  office  he  continued 


*  The  following  are  extracts  from  be  reasonably  hoped,  since  the  coun- 

the  minutes  of  the  Provincial  Council  try  has   now   made    some   provision 

of  Pennsylvania,  published  by  order  for  the  support  of  government,  they 

of  the  Legislature,  in  1838.  will  not  fail   likewise   to  provide   for 

At  a  Council  held  at  Philadelphia  the  administration  of  justice   in  the 

the  17th  of  April,  1706.     "  The  Go-  Courts,  and  especially  take   care  to 

vernor  acquainted  the  Board  that  the  lay  hold  on  so  good  an  opportunity 

Proprietor  had,  by  Judge  Mompesson,  offered  them." 

sent  over  his  warrant  directed  to  Col.  The  Governor  then  ordered  a  Gom- 

Hamilton,  to  pass  a  commission  un-  mission,  appointing  the  said  R.  Mom- 

der  the   great  seal,  constituting  the  pesson   Chief   Justice,    to    be    read, 

said  gentleman  Chief  Justice  of  this  which   being  done,  the  Chief  Justice 

Government;  but  that  Col.  Hamilton  took  the  usual  oaths. — 2  Pro.  Min., 

being  deceased  before   his   arrival,  it  p.  287. 

could  not  then  be  done,  and  it  has  No   provision,  however,  seems   to 

been  to   this   time  deferred  ;  but  that  have   been  made  for   the  administra- 

at  length    the  said  Judge  has  been  tion  of  justice  ;  and  Mompesson  was 

pleased  to  accept  of  it,  though  the  pre-  obliged  to  be  content  with  acting  as 

sent  encouragement  be  but  very  slen-  the  Chief  Justice  of  New  York  and 

der  and  no  way  inviting,  yet  it  may  New  Jersey. 


ROGER  MOMPESSON.  61 

to  fill  during  the  whole  of  Cornbury's  administra- 
tion. He  became  his  principal  adviser  in  all  mat- 
ters of  law,  and  was  no  doubt  the  author  of  that 
Ordinance  to  which  reference  has  already  been 
made.  All  cotemporary  authorities  agree  in  repre- 
senting him  to  have  been  a  man  of  much  abihty, 
and  great  learning  in  his  profession.  And  when  we 
remember  that  he  was  an  English  lawyer,  and  pre- 
sided for  so  many  years  over  the  Courts  of  New 
York  and  New  Jersey,  we  shall  have  less  difficulty 
in  accounting  for  the  fact,  of  the  close  resemblance, 
which  has  until  recently  existed  in  the  judicial  sys- 
tems of  these  States,  and  their  general  conformity 
to  the  practice  of  the  Courts  of  Westminster  Hall. 

Of  the  private  life  and  character  of  the  Chief 
Justice,  unfortunately,  little  can  now  be  known ; 
but  in  the  political  transactions  of  the  times,  he 
played  a  somewhat  conspicuous,  and  not  a  very 
creditable  part.  He  was  not  named  as  one  of  the 
Council  in  the  Instructions  of  Lord  Cornbury,  but 
he  soon  became  a  member  of  the  Board,  probably 
in  the  place  of  Lewis  Morris,  who  had  been  ex- 
pelled by  the  Governor  for  his  refractory  conduct. 
And  certainly,  a  more  pliant  and  submissive  coun- 
cillor than  Mompesson,  Lord  Cornbury  could  not 
have  desired. 

All  who  are  at  all  familiar  with  the  history  of 


62  REMONSTRANCE  OF  THE  ASSEMBLY. 

New  Jersey,  will  readily  call  to  mind  the  sharp  pas- 
sages of  words  which  took  place  between  the  As- 
sembly and  the  Governor  in  1707.  A  series  of  the 
most  wanton  and  flagrant  acts  of  tyranny  and  ra- 
pacity had  so  exhausted  the  patience  of  the  House, 
that,  instead  of  paying  the  least  regard  to  his  con- 
stant demands  for  money,  they  resolved  themselves 
into  a  committee  of  the  whole  to  consider  of  their 
grievances.  After  resolving  to  petition  the  Queen 
for  his  removal,  they  drew  up  a  long  remonstrance 
to  be  presented  to  Lord  Cornbury  in  person,  laden 
with  their  complaints.  This  memorable  produc- 
tion was  from  the  pen  of  Lewis  Morris,  who  after 
his  expulsion  from  the  Council,  had  been  returned 
as  a  member  of  Assembly ;  and  it  was  certainly 
couched  in  no  very  courtly  style,  nor  expressed  in 
very  measured  terms.  Various  were  the  counts  in 
this  indictment.  The  Governor — for  by  this  title 
only  did  they  now  address  him — was  charged  with 
long  and  unnecessary  absence  from  the  Province ; 
with  refusing  to  pass  sentence  of  death  upon  two 
criminals — one  of  whom  had  been  convicted  of 
murdering  her  child,  and  the  other  of  poisoning  her 
husband — the  blood  of  whose  innocent  victims,  it 
was  said,  cried  aloud  for  vengeance,  which  just 
heaven  would  not  fail  to  pour  down  upon  their  de- 
voted country  if  such    crimes  went   unpunished; 


REMONSTRANCE  OF  THE  ASSEMBLY.  63 

with  compelling  persons  unjustly  accused  to  pay 
costs,  although  no  bills  were  found  against  them  by 
the  Grand  Jury ;  with  unauthorized  and  arbitrary 
interference  with  the  rights  of  the  Proprietors ; 
and,  to  crown  the  whole,  with  having  received 
large  sums  of  money  raised  for  the  purpose  of  pro- 
curing by  bribery  and  corruption  a  dissolution  of 
the  Assembly.  Liberty,  they  said,  was  too  valua- 
ble a  thing  to  be  easily  parted  with,  and  when 
such  violent  endeavors  were  used  to  tear  it  from 
them,  they  had  neither  heads,  hearts,  nor  souls, 
that  would  not  be  moved  with  the  miseries  of  their 
country,  and  would  not  be  forward  with  their  ut- 
most power  lawfully  to  redress  them.  And  they 
concluded  by  advising  the  Governor  to  consider 
what  it  was  that  principally  engaged  the  affections 
of  a  people,  and  that  he  would  find  no  other  arti- 
fices needful,  than  to  let  them  be  unmolested  in  the 
enjoyment  of  what  of  right  belonged  to  them ;  that 
a  wise  man  who  valued  his  own  happiness,  would 
earnestly  labor  to  regain  their  love.' 

Samuel  Jenings'  was  the  Speaker  of  the  As- 


'  Smith's  N.  J.,  pp.  288 — 294.  the  widow,  the  fatherless,  and  the  un- 

*  Samuel   Jenings   is  described  by  happy  ;  an  ardent  lover  of  right  and 

Smith  as  a  man  of  great  candor,  pro-  liberty,  and  abhorring  oppression   in 

bity,  and  ability  ;  of  a  warm  and  has-  every   shape;    and   although    some- 

ty  temper,  but  with  a  heart  alive  to  times  thought  stiff  and  impracticable 

erery  generous  emotion  ;  a  friend  to  in  his  opinions,  yet  of  acknowledged 


64  REMONSTRANCE  OF  THE  ASSEMBLY. 

sembly,  and  upon  him  it  devolved  to  present  to 
the  Governor  this  bold  and  spirited  address ;  and 
certainly  it  lost  nothing  of  pungency  or  point  in 
the  manner  of  its  delivery.  Not  at  all  daunted  by 
the  assumed  air  of  loftiness  and  disdain  which  the 
Governor  put  on  in  order  to  intimidate  him,  he  read 
it  in  a  clear,  fijm,  and  deliberate  tone,  and  when 
interrupted,  as  he  frequently  was,  by  the  cry  of 
stop  !  wTiafs  that  ?  whenever  he  came  to  the  more 
offensive  parts,  instead  of  being  disconcerted,  with 
an  appearance  of  great  humility  he  calmly  desired 
leave  to  read  the  passages  over  again,  which  he  did, 
says  Smith,  "with  an  additional  emphasis  upon 
those  the  most  complaining,  so  that  on  the  second 
reading  they  became  more  observable  than  be- 
fore." ^ 

When  the  Assembly  had  withdrawn,  Cornbury 


integrity  and  fortitude  in  all  stations.  Governor  of  West  Jersey  ; — he  was 

He  had  lived  for  some  years  in  Penn-  a  suppressor  of  vice  and  an  encour- 

sylvania  and  borne  several  important  ager  of  virtue  ; — sharp  towards  evil 

offices  in  that  province.     He  had  al-  doers,  but  tender  and  loving  to  them 

80  been  Governor  of  West  Jersey  un-  that   did  well ;   giving  good  counsel 

der   the   Proprietary   Government. —  and  wholesome  advice  to  friends  and 

Smith's  N.  J.,  352.  neighbors  ; — an  able  minister  of  the 

His  character  is  thus  sketched  by  Gospel,  and  labored  much  therein,  to 

oneof  the  first  settlers  of  New  Jersey,  the  comfort  and  edification  of  many 

"Samuel  Jenings  and  his  wife  Ann,  people,  both  in  this  province  and  other 

were  early  comers  to  America,  and  places." — Frond's    Pennsylvania,    I. 

of  worthy  memory,  endued  with  both  158.  Note, 

spiritual    and    temporal    wisdom  ; —  '  Smith's  N.  J.,  295. 
some  part  of  his  time  he  was  made 


LORD  CORNBURY'S  ANSWER.  65 

said  to  those  about  him,  "  that  fellow  Jenings  has 
impudence  enough  to  face  the  devil."  After  the 
lapse  of  some  days,  the  Governor  sent  for  the 
House,  and  delivered  his  answer.  It  was  written 
and  delivered  in  a  tone  of  insolent  defiance,  and 
contained  a  good  deal  of  that  low  humor  for  which 
he  was  noted. 

In  reference  to  the  first  charge,  he  says :  "  The 
affairs  of  New  York  have  never  hindered  the  Go- 
vernor from  attending  those  of  New  Jersey  when- 
ever it  has  been  requisite  ;  and  I  can  safely  say,  I 
don't  know  of  any  grievances  this  Province  labors 
under,  except  it  be  the  having  a  certain  number  of 
people  in  it  who  never  will  be  faithful  to,  nor  live 
quietly  under  any  government,  nor  suffer  their 
neighbors  to  enjoy  any  peace,  quiet,  or  happiness, 
if  they  can  help  it." 

As  to  the  second  charge  he  thus  proceeds :  "  As 
to  what  you  say  with  relation  to  the  apprehensions 
you  have,  that  just  heaven  will  not  fail  to  pour 
down  vengeance  upon  your  already  miserable  coun- 
try, if  these  criminals  are  not  made  to  suffer  ac- 
cording to  their  demerits ;  I  am  of  opinion,  that  no- 
thing has  hindered  the  vengeance  of  just  heaven 
from  falling  upon  this  province  long  ago,  but  the 
infinite  mercy,  goodness,  long-suffering,  and  for- 
bearance of  Almighty  God,  who  has  been  abun« 

5 


QQ  LORD  CORNBURY'S  ANSWER. 

dantly  provoked  by  the  repeated  crying  sins  of  a 
perverse  generation  among  us,  and  more  especially 
by  the  dangerous  and  abominable  doctrines,  and 
the  wicked  lives  and  practices  of  a  number  of  peo- 
ple," (meaning  the  Quakers,)  "  some  of  whom,  un- 
der the  pretended  name  of  Christians,  have  dared 
to  deny  the  very  essence  and  being  of  the  Saviour 
of  the  world." 

With  regard  to  persons  paying  fees,  against 
whom  no  bills  had  been  found  by  the  Grand  Jury, 
he  intimates,  that  if  juries  were  in  this  country 
what  they  ought  to  be,  there  might  possibly  be  some 
ground  of  complaint ;  "  but,"  he  adds,  "  we  find  by 
woful  experience,  that  there  are  many  men  who 
have  been  admitted  to  serve  upon  grand  and  petty 
juries,  w^ho  have  convinced  the  world,  that  they 
have  no  regard  for  the  oaths  they  take,  especially 
among  a  sort  of  people,  who,  under  a  pretence  of 
conscience,  refuse  to  take  an  oath ;  and  yet  many 
of  them,  under  the  cloak  of  a  very  solemn  affirma- 
tion, dare  to  commit  the  greatest  enormities,  espe- 
cially if  it  be  to  serve  a  friend,  as  they  call  him." 
Jenings,  you  know,  was  a  Quaker. 

Another  complaint  was,  that  there  was  but  one 
office  for  the  probate  of  wills,  w  hich  was  at  Burling- 
ton, and  that  it  was  very  expensive  and  inconve- 
nient for  persons  living  in  remote  parts  of  the  Pro- 


LORD  CORNBURY'S  ANSWER.  07 

vince  to  attend  it.  After  pronouncing  this  com- 
plaint to  be  malicious,  scandalous,  and  frivolous, 
contrived  only  to  amuse  poor  ignorant  people  with 
notions  of  grievances,  he  says :  "  But  of  all  peo- 
ple in  the  world,  the  Quakers  ought  to  be  the  last  to 
complain  of  the  hardships  of  travelling  a  few  miles 
upon  such  an  occasion,  who  never  repine  at  the 
trouble  and  charges  of  travelling  several  hundred 
miles  to  a  yearly  meeting,  where  it  is  evidently 
known,  that  nothing  was  ever  done  for  the  good  of 
the  country,  but  on  the  contrary,  continual  contri- 
vances are  carried  on  for  the  undermining  of  the 
Government  both  in  Church  and  State." 

"  These,  Governor,  are  some  of  the  grievances," 
was  one  of  the  expressions  in  the  remonstrance. 
This,  he  says,  is  certainly  one  of  the  boldest  asser- 
tions that  ever  was  made,  especially  when  there 
appears  no  manner  of  proof  to  make  it  out :  "  And 
although  I  know  very  well,  that  there  are  several 
unquiet  spirits  in  the  Province,  who  will  never  be 
content  to  live  quiet  under  any  government  but 
their  own,  and  not  long  under  that  neither,  as  ap- 
pears by  their  methods  of  proceeding  when  the 
Government  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Proprietors, 
when  many  of  these  very  men  who  are  now  the  re- 
monstrancers,  were  in  authority,  and  used  the  most 
arbitrary  and  illegal  methods  of  proceeding  over 


68  LORD  CORNBURY'S  ANSWER. 

their  fellow-subjects  that  were  ever  heard  of;  yet  I 
am  satisfied  there  are  very  few  men  in  the  province, 
except  Samuel  Jenings  and  Lewis  Morris — men 
known  neither  to  have  good  principles,  nor  good 
morals — who  have  ventured  to  accuse  a  Governor 
of  such  crimes,  without  any  proof  to  make  out 
their  accusation ;  but  they  are  capable  of  any  thing 
but  good." 

"  I  was  going  to  conclude,"  he  says,  "  with  giv- 
ing you  some  wholesome  advice ;  but  I  consider 
that  will  be  but  labor  lost,  and  therefore  shall  re- 
serve it  for  persons  who  I  hope  will  make  a  right 
use  of  it." 

A  rephcation  to  this  answer  was  of  course  pre- 
pared by  the  Assembly,  and  a  committee  appointed 
to  present  it  to  the  Governor ;  but  he  refused  to 
receive  it,  and  the  House  thereupon  ordered  that  it 
should  be  entered  on  their  journal.  It  was  dig- 
nified and  dispassionate,  but  entirely  too  long  to  be 
here  inserted.  There  was  one  passage  in  it,  how- 
ever, too  characteristic  to  be  omitted.  In  refer- 
ence to  his  repeated  attacks  upon  the  Quakers, 
they  remind  him,  that  it  was  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Province  of  New  Jersey  that  complained, 
and  not  the  Quakers,  with  whose  persons  and 
meetings  they  had  nothing  to  do ;  but,  it  is  added, 
"  those  of  them  who  are  members  of  this  House, 


ADDRESS  OF  LIEUT.  GOV.  AND  COUNCIL.  69 

have  begged  leave,  in  behalf  of  themselves  and  their 
friends,  to  tell  the  Governor,  they  must  answer  him 
in  the  words  of  Nehemiah  to  Sanballat,  contained 
in  the  eighth  verse  of  the  sixth  chapter  of  Nehemiah, 
viz. :  "  There  are  no  such  things  done  as  thou  sayest^ 
but  thoufeignest  them  out  of  thine  own  hearth  ^ 

The  Governor,  alarmed  at  the  effect  which 
these  complaints  and  remonstrances  might  have  at 
home,  prevailed  upon  the  Lieutenant  Governor 
Ingoldsby,  and  some  of  the  Council,  to  unite  in  an 
address  to  the  Queen,  in  which  they  fully  justify 
the  whole  of  Lord  Cornbury's  conduct ;  pronounce 
the  charges  made  against  him  by  the  Assembly 
false  and  malicious ;  and  ascribe  all  the  difficulties 
which  had  arisen,  to  the  "  turbulent,  factious,  and 
disloyal  principles  of  two  men  in  the  Assembly, 
Lewis  Morris,  and  Samuel  Jenings  a  Quaker — men 
notoriously  known  to  be  uneasy  under  all  govern- 
ment— men  never  known  to  be  consistent  with 
themselves — men  to  whom  all  the  factions  and  con- 
fusions in  the  Government  of  New  Jersey  and 
Pennsylvania  for  many  years  are  wholly  owing." 
The  language  of  this  address  betokened  but  too 
clearly  the  source  from  which  it  emanated.  It  was 
in  Lord  Cornbury's  own  peculiar  vein.^ 

'  This  reply  will  be  found  at  large         '  This  address  was  not  an  act  of 
in  Smith's  N.  J.,  pp.  313— 33C.  the  Council,  nor  was  it   entered  on 


ifl  ROGER  MOMPESSON. 

One  of  the  Council  who  put  his  name  to  this 
address  was  Roger  Mompesson,  the  Chief  Justice ; 
and  I  have  felt  it  to  be  my  duty  to  go  somewhat  at 
large  into  this  transaction,  that  his  conduct  upon 
the  occasion  might  be  exhibited  in  its  true  light. 
There  may  have  been  possibly  a  little  exaggeration 
in  some  of  the  charges  brought  against  the  Govern- 
or. There  may  have  been  a  spirit  of  factious  op- 
position upon  the  part  of  some  of  the  members  of 
the  House.  But  after  making  every  allowance  for 
the  influence  of  party  feeling,  and  a  sense  of  per- 
sonal obligation  for  numerous  favors  conferred  by 
Lord  Cornbury,  it  is  impossible  not  to  pronounce 
upon  the  Chief  Justice  a  sentence  of  stern  and  un- 
quahfied  condemnation. 

The   next  year  Cornbury  was   removed,^  and 

their  minutes  ;  but  was  carried  about  ly  accountable  to  her  majesty  for  the 

secretly  by    a    messenger    of   Lord  same. 

Cornbury's,  the  signature  of  a  number         Those  who  put  their  names  to  the 

of  the  members  procured  by  artifice,  address     were     Richard     Ingoldsby, 

and  then  it  was  transmitted  privately  William  Pinhorne,   Roger    Mompes- 

to  the  Queen.     The  Lieutenant  Go-  son,  Thomas  Revell,  Daniel  Leeds, 

vernor  protested  he  signed  it  without  Daniel  Coxe,  Richard  Townley,  Wil- 

ever   reading   it ;    the    Chief  Justice  Ham  Sandford,  and  Robert  Quarry, 
owned  he  never  examined  into   the         Quarry  figures  in  the  history  of  se- 

particulars  of  it.     Sandford  was  the  veral  of  the  Colonies.     Smith  says  he 

only  one  who  seems  to  have  behaved  was  of  the  Council  for  five  govern- 

with  any  manliness  in  reference  to  it.  ments  at  one  time,  viz.  :  New  York, 

When  questioned  by   the  House  he  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland 

admitted  having  signed  it ;  and  upon  and  Virginia. 

being  asked  if  he  would  acknowledge         '  "  Her  majesty,"  says   the  histo- 

his  fault,  he  said  he  signed  it  as  one  rian  of  New  York,  "  graciously  list- 

of  her  majesty's  Council,  and  was  on  ened  to  the  cries  of  her  injured  sub- 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  ASSEMBLY.  71 

Mompesson,  apprehensive,  no  doubt,  that  a  similar 
fate  awaited  him,  surrendered  his  commission.  In 
1710,  during  the  administration  of  Governor  Hunt- 
er, this  address  of  the  Lieutenant  Governor  and 
Council  was  made  the  subject  of  much  discussion 
in  the  Assembly.  By  a  solemn  vote,  they  pro- 
nounced it  to  be  a  false  and  scandalous  paper. 
They  expelled  William  Sandford,  one  of  their 
members,  for  having  signed  it,  and  in  an  address  to 
Governor  Hunter  they  review  it  at  great  length, 
and  comment  with  much  severity  upon  the  conduct 
of  the  Chief  Justice  and  Pinhorne,  charging  them 
with  having  made  the  Courts  of  Law  in  which  they 
were  Judges,  instead  of  a  protection  and  security 
to  the  liberties  and  properties  of  her  majesty's  sub- 
jects, the  invaders  and  destroyers  of  them  both. 
Mompesson  did  not  attempt  to  justify  his  conduct. 


jects,  divested  him  of  his  power,  and  the  qualities  by  which  his  distinguish- 
appointed  Lord  Lovelace  in  his  stead  ;  ed  ancestor  was  characterized,  ex- 
declaring  that  she  would  not  counte-  cept  an  exaggeration  of  his  zeal  for 
nance  her  nearest  relations  in  op-  the  Church  of  England,  and  his  intol- 
pressing  her  people.  erance  of  all  other  ecclesiastical  asso- 

"  We  never  had  a  governor  so  uni-  ciations.    The  rest  of  Lord  Cornbury's 

versally   detested,    nor    any  who   so  character  would  have  disgraced  more 

richly  deserved  the  public  abhorrence,  estimable    qualities  ;    and    seems   to 

In  spite  of  his  noble  descent,  his  be-  have  formed  a  composition,  no  less 

havior  was  trifling,  mean,  and  extra-  odious    than  despicable,  of    rapacity 

vagant." — Smith's  JV.  Y.,  188.  and  pnuiigality,  voluptuousness    and 

"  Edward,  Lord  Cornbury,  grand-  inhumanity,  the  loftiest  arrogance  and 

son  of  Lord  Chancellor  Clarendon,"  the    meanest    chicane."  —  Grahame's 

says  Grahamc,  "  possessed  not  one  of  Col.  Hist.,  454. 


72  TRIAL  OF  FRANCIS  McKEMIE. 

The  only  excuse  he  assigned  for  putting  his  name 
to  the  paper  was,  that  he  had  signed  it  without  ex- 
amining its  contents. 

As  Chief  Justice  of  New  York,  Mompesson's 
conduct,  in  all  matters  in  which  Lord  Cornbury 
was  concerned,  was  of  a  piece  with  his  behavior  in 
New  Jersey.  In  1707,  Francis  McKemie,  a  Pres- 
byterian clergyman,  was  arrested  by  order  of  Lord 
Cornbury,  for  preaching  without  a  license  in  the 
village  of  Newtown,  a  short  distance  from  New 
York.  He  was  carried  in  triumph  a  circuit  of  se- 
veral miles  through  Jamaica  to  the  city  of  New 
York,  where  he  was  thrown  into  jail,  and  kept  in 
close  confinement  for  upwards  of  six  weeks  be- 
fore he  was  admitted  to  bail.  Upon  his  trial — 
which  produced  great  excitement,  and  drew  toge- 
ther a  large  concourse  of  people  —  Mompesson 
presided,  and  is  said  to  have  been  guilty  of  the  most 
shameful  partiality.^  He  exerted  all  his  influence 
to  induce  the  jury  to  find  a  special  verdict — thus 
putting  the  defendant  entirely  in  the  power  of  the 
Court.  Faihng  in  this,  and  the  jury  without  hesi- 
tation acquitting  the  defendant,  the  Court  refused 
to  discharge  him  until  he  had  paid  all  the  fees  of 
his  prosecution.-     But  we    have  said  more    than 

'  Smith's  N.  Y.,  184.  lished  at  the  time  by  one  who  styles 

'  A  narrative  of  this  trial  was  pub-     himself  "  A   learner   of  law   and   a 


WILLIAM  PINHORNE.  73 

enough,  perhaps,  of  the  first  Chief  Justice  of  New 
Jersey. 

The  associate  of  Mompesson  upon  the  Bench 
of  the  Supreme  Court  was  Wilham  Pinhorne,  to 
whom  some  allusion  has  already  been  made.  But 
as  he  filled  for  many  years  a  high  judicial  station  in 
New  York  as  well  as  in  New  Jersey,  and  was  the 
acting  Governor  of  this  colony  after  the  removal  of 
Cornbury  and  Ingoldsby,  and  before  the  arrival  of 
Governor  Hunter,  he  merits  a  fuller  notice.  He 
has  too  a  further  claim  upon  our  attention,  from 
the  fact,  that  he  is  the  lineal  ancestor  in  the  mater- 
nal fine  of  the  late  Chief  Justice  of  our  Supreme 
Court,  the  honored  President  of  this  Society.^ 


lover  of  liberty."  It  was  reprinted  "  they  might  choose,  whether  they 
in  New  York  in  1755.  An  exami-  would  or  not  give  any  reasons  for 
nation  of  this  narrative  will  hardly  their  verdict."  The  foreman  said, 
justify  the  charge  of  partiality  which  the  defendant  had  not  transgressed 
has  been  made  against  Mompesson.  any  law :  another  of  the  jury  told  the 
True,  he  observes  in  his  charge  to  the  Court,  they  believed  in  their  con- 
jury,  "  Mr.  Attorney  says  the  fact  is  sciences  they  had  done  the  defendant 
confessed  by  the  defendant,  and  I  justice  ;  and  then  the  verdict  was  re- 
would  have  you  bring  it  in  specially,  corded.  It  ought  also  to  be  stated, 
for  there  are  some  points  I  am  not  that  while  the  author  of  this  narra- 
prepared  to  answer:"  but  at  the  tive  is  severe  in  his  denunciation  of 
same  time  he  tells  them,  "  If  you  will  Cornbury,  not  a  word  of  complaint  is 
take  upon  you  to  judge  of  the  law,  uttered  against  the  Chief  Justice, 
you  may,  or  you  may  bring  in  the  '  Hon.  Joseph  C.  Hornblower, 
fact  specially."  And  when  the  jury  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
returned  with  a  verdict  of  "  not  guil-  from  1832  to  1846,  whose  judicial 
ty,"  and  some  of  the  Court  began  to  career — distinguished  alike  for  the 
inquire  of  them  reasons  for  their  ver-  exhibition  of  the  deepest  learning  and 
diet,  the  Chief  Justice  told  the  jury,  the  loftiest  integrity — it  will   be   the 


74  WILLIAM  PINHORNE. 

He  was  originally  a  merchant  in  the  City  of 
New  York,  and  had  gained  some  distinction  in  that 
Province  before  his  removal  to  New  Jersey.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Council  there  during  the  brief 
but  turbulent  administration  of  Governor  Sloughter, 
when  Leisler  and  Milborne  were  condemned  and 
executed  for  treason.  He  was  one  of  the  Judges 
too  of  the  Supreme  Court,  at  the  time  that  Joseph 
Dudley — afterwards  Governor  of  Massachusetts — 
was  the  Chief  Justice.  He  remained  a  member  of 
the  Council  until  the  arrival  of  Governor  Fletcher 
in  1692,  when  he  was  refused  the  oath  of  office, 
upon  the  ground  of  his  being  a  non-resident.^ 

He  had  some  years  before  this  purchased  a  tract 
of  land  in  New  Jersey,  containing  upwards  of  a 
thousand  acres,  and  lying  near  the  Hackensack 
river,  in  what  is  now  the  county  of  Hudson.  This 
must  have  been  a  place  of  some  note  in  that  early 
day,  for  we  find  a  particular  description  of  it  in 
Scot's  Model  of  East  New  Jersey."  It  is  there 
spoken  of  as  a  "  brave  plantation,"  near  unto 
Snake  Hill,  on  a  piece  of  land  almost  an  island, 

grateful  task  of  some  future  legal  an-  East  New  Jersey,  p.  137.    This  work 

nalist   to  record.      Upon  his   retire-  was    originally   published    at    Edin- 

ment   from   the   Bench,  he  was  ap-  burgh  in  1685,  and  is  reprinted  in  the 

pointed  senior  Professor  in  the  Law  Appendi.x  to   Mr.  Whitehead's  His- 

School  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey.  tory  of  East  Jersey  under  the  Pro- 

'  Smith's  N.  J.,  133.  prietors. 

*  Model    of   the    Government    of 


WILLIAM  PINHORNE.  75 

and  is  said  to  be  "  well  stocked  and  improved." 
This  became  his  future  residence,  and  was  honored 
with  the  name  of  "Mount  Pinhorne,"  certainly  a 
more  euphonious  appellation  than  Snake  Hill.  It 
was  the  seat  of  simple  but  not  inelegant  hospitality, 
and  the  home  of  a  numerous  family,  many  of  the 
descendants  of  which  are  still  among  us.  He  was 
appointed  by  Lord  Cornbury  second  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  New  Jersey,  and  took  his  seat 
on  the  Bench  at  the  first  term,  which  was  held  at 
Burlington  in  November,  1704. 

He  continued  upon  the  Bench  during  the  whole 
of  Cornbury's  administration,  and  from  his  con- 
nexion with  Mompesson,  it  was  scarcely  possible 
for  him  to  escape  a  portion  of  that  obloquy  which 
attached  to  the  Chief  Justice,  on  account  of  his 
subserviency  to  the  Governor.  Not  only  was  he 
connected  with  the  Chief  Justice  by  official  ties, 
but  a  new  and  more  interesting  relation  soon  came 
to  subsist  between  them.  Pinhorne  had  several 
daughters,  and  the  Chief  Justice  was  fond  of  visit- 
ing this  "  brave  plantation"  at  Snake  Hill,  lying  as 
it  did  on  the  way  from  his  Courts  in  New  Jersey  to 
those  in  New  York.  Here  he  was  wont  to  repose 
himself  after  his  judicial  toils,  and  being  a  bachelor, 
it  followed  as  a  very  natural  consequence,  that  Miss 
Martha  Pinhorne  soon  became  Mrs.  Mompesson. 


76  WILLIAM  PINHORNE. 

He  was  prompted  no  doubt  in  his  choice  by  affec- 
tion, but  he  may  also  have  thought,  that  it  was  a 
more  effectual  way  of  mending  his  fortune,  than  by 
being  Chief  Justice  with  a  salary  of  a  hundred 
pounds  a  year. 

But  whether  owing  to  his  connexion  with  the 
Chief  Justice,  or  to  his  own  official  misconduct,  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  Pinhorne  was  a  most  unpopu- 
lar Judge,  and  that  he  rendered  himself  peculiarly 
obnoxious  to  the  party  who  were  in  opposition  to 
Cornbury.  He  was  one  of  the  signers  of  the  ad- 
dress to  the  Queen  from  the  Lieutenant  Governor 
and  Council,  an  account  of  which  has  already  been 
given ;  and  when  a  subsequent  Assembly  came  to 
review  that  address,  they  were  unsparing  in  their 
denunciations  of  the  Second  Judge.  Among  other 
matters  laid  to  his  charge,  they  accuse  him  of  hav- 
ing denied  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  the  undoubted 
right  and  great  privilege  of  the  subject,  to  Thomas 
Gordon,  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Assembly, 
and  with  having  detained  him  in  custody,  until  he 
had  applied  to  a  son  of  Pinhorne,  an  attorney  at 
law,  for  professional  aid,  and  then,  and  not  until 
then,  admitting  him  to  bail.'  It  is  but  just,  how- 
ever, to  say,  that  this  address  of  the  Assembly  has 

»  Smith's  N.  J.,  39 L 


WILLIAM  PINHORNE.  77 

the  appearance  of  being  a  little  colored,  and  that 
its  statements  ought  to  be  taken  with  some  grains  of 
allowance.  While  the  Assembly  were  animated  no 
doubt  by  a  very  patriotic  spirit,  and  while  there 
was  quite  enough  in  the  conduct  of  Cornbury  and 
his  Council  to  furnish  ground  for  complaint,  yet,  as 
is  usual  in  such  cases,  there  was  evidently  a  little 
passion  mingled  with  their  patriotism.  Nor  ought 
it  to  be  forgotten,  that  the  eloquent  leader  of  the 
popular  party,  Lewis  Morris — the  man  who  pen- 
ned most  of  the  addresses  of  the  Assembly  at  this 
time  —  when  at  a  subsequent  period  he  became 
Governor  himself,  was  denounced  almost  as  strong- 
ly, and  handled  as  roughly  by  the  representatives 
of  the  people,  as  ever  Lord  Cornbury  had  been.  If 
colonial  Governors  and  Judges  were  prone  to  be 
arbitrary  and  oppressive,  it  must  be  confessed,  that 
colonial  Assemblies  were  sometimes  composed  of 
inveterate  political  scolds. 

Upon  the  removal  of  Cornbury,  Pinhorne  con- 
tinued to  be  a  member  of  the  Council,  and  united 
in  that  congratulatory  address  to  the  good  Lord 
Lovelace,  which  began  with  these  remarkable 
words,  "  Your  Lordship  has  not  one  virtue  or  more, 
but  a  complete  accomplishment  of  all  perfections 

»  Smith's  N.  J.,  379. 


wl 


78 


WILLIAM  PINHORNE. 


This  was  sufficiently  discreditable  even  when  ad- 
dressed to  Lord  Lovelace,  but  Grahame — who  is 
usually  accurate — makes  the  matter  worse,  by  sup- 
posing that  it  was  used  in  reference  to  Cornbury 
himself/ 

Had  Lord  Lovelace  lived  however,  Cornbury's 
Councillors — notwithstanding  their  sycophancy — 
would  probably  have  met  with  as  little  favor  at  his 
hands,  as  they  did  at  those  of  his  successor,  Go- 
vernor Hunter.  But  his  sudden  and  premature 
death,^  suspended  for  a  time  the  storm  of  indigna- 
tion which  was  ready  to  burst  upon  them.  It  ex- 
tinguished too  the  fond  hopes  which  had  been 
awakened  by  the  auspicious  commencement  of  his 
administration,  and  wrapped  the  whole  colony  in 
grief.  "  That  good  man,"  said  the  Assembly  in  an 
address  to  Governor  Hunter,  "  lived  long  enough  to 
know  how  much  the  Province  had  been  oppressed, 
but  not  long  enough  to  remove  the  causes." 

Upon  the  death  of  Lord  Lovelace,  the  govern- 
ment devolved  upon  Lieutenant  Governor  Ingolds- 
by.  He  was  a  dull,  heavy  man,  and  almost  as  odious 
to  the  people  of  New  Jersey  as  Lord  Cornbury  had 


'  Grahame's  Col.  Hist.,  I.  488.  1709,  of  a   disorder    contracted    in 

^  This  nobleman,  whose  accession  crossing  the  ferry  at  his  first  arrival 

to  the  government  was  hailed  with  in  the  city  of  New  York. — Smith's  N. 

universal  joy,  died  on  the  5th  of  May,  Y.,  191. 


WILLIAM  PINHORNE.  79 

been.  The  most  earnest  remonstrances  therefore 
were  made  to  the  Queen  for  his  removal,  to  which 
she  at  last  yielded.  But  before  the  arrival  of  ano- 
ther Governor,  Pinhorne,  who  was  the  President  of 
the  Council,  exercised  the  powers  of  Commander  in 
Chief.  He  was  soon  superseded,  however,  by  the 
arrival  of  Governor  Hunter ;  but  still  remained  a 
member  of  Council,  together  with  most  of  his  old 
associates. 

Governor  Hunter  made  every  effort  in  his  pow- 
er to  allay  the  unhappy  divisions  which  existed  in 
the  colony.  In  his  first  address  to  the  House  of 
Assembly,  he  thus  expressed  himself: — 

"  I  am  little  used  to  make  speeches,  so  you  shall 
not  be  troubled  with  a  long  one ;  if  honesty  is  the 
best  policy,  plainness  must  be  the  best  oratory;  so 
to  deal  plainly  with  you,  so  long  as  these  unchris- 
tian divisions,  which  her  majesty  has  thought  to 
deserve  her  repeated  notice,  reign  amongst  you,  I 
shall  have  small  hopes  of  a  happy  issue  to  our 
meeting. 

"  This  is  an  evil  which  every  body  complains 
of,  but  few  take  the  right  method  to  remedy  it ;  let 
every  man  begin  at  home,  and  weed  the  rancor  out 
of  his  own  mind,  and  the  work  is  done  at  once. 

"  Leave  disputes  of  property  to  the  laws,  and 
injuries  to  the  avenger  of  them ;  and  like  good  sub- 


80  WILLIAM  PINHORNE. 

jects,  and  good  Christians,  join  hearts  and  hands 
for  the  common  good." 

But  the  spirit  of  party  was  not  so  easily  laid. 
He  soon  found  that  it  was  absolutely  necessary,  in 
order  to  propitiate  the  Assembly,  that  Pinhorne 
and  his  associates  should  be  removed  from  the 
Council.  The  House  went  so  far  as  to  declare, 
that  so  long  as  these  individuals  remained  in  places 
of  trust,  they  could  not  think  their  persons  or  pro- 
perty safe,  and  that  if  continued,  they  would  be 
compelled  with  their  families  to  desert  the  Pro- 
vince, and  seek  some  safer  place  of  abode.^  This 
savors  much  of  extravagance,  and  must  be  regard- 
ed as  a  mere  ebullition  of  party  feeling. 

The  truth  is,  there  existed  in  the  colony  at  this 
time  two  distinctly  formed  parties,  and  it  is  impos- 
sible to  do  justice  to  the  character  of  those  of 
whom  we  are  speaking,  without  bearing  this  fact 
in  mind.  We  are  accustomed  to  deplore  the  exist- 
ence of  party  spirit  at  the  present  day,  and  the 
sway  which  it  exercises  over  the  best  men ;  and  to 
think,  and  speak,  as  if  it  were  an  evil  peculiar  in 

'  The  Assembly,  in  their  Address,  and  Jeremiah  Basse.    Governor  Ilun- 

menlion  the  names  of  the  individuals  ter  at  once  dismissed  most  of  them 

whom  they  were  desirous  of  having  from  office,  and  when  he  next   met 

removed  from  places  of  trust  in  the  the  Assembly,  he  told  them  he  be- 

Province.     They  were  William  Pin-  lieved  they  would  not  be  sorry  to  meet 

home,    Roger     Mompesson,    Daniel  him  in  such  good  company. — Smith's 

Coxe,  Richard  Townley,  Peter  Son-  N.  J.,  402. 
mans,   Hugh   Huddy,  William   Hall, 


EARLY  FORMATION  OF  PARTIES.  Ql 

some  measure  to  our  own  times.  It  may  be  some 
consolation  to  find,  that  nearly  a  century  and  a  half 
ago,  while  the  colony  w^as  almost  in  its  infancy, 
and  with  a  population  composed  in  great  part  of 
quiet  Quakers  and  peaceful  Puritans,  this  spirit  was 
as  rife  and  as  rampant  as  it  has  ever  been  since ; 
that  oflices — which  one  would  have  thought  were 
scarce  worth  the  having — were  sought  after  with 
quite  as  much  avidity  as  they  are  now ;  and  that 
political  parties  pursued  each  other  with  a  ferocity, 
to  which  we  are  absolutely  strangers.^  The  domi- 
nant party,  it  is  true,  did  not,  as  in  the  mother 
country,  pass  bills  of  attainder,  confiscate  the  es- 
tates, and  cut  oflf  the  heads  of  their  opponents ;  but 
they  expelled  them  from  the  Assembly,  declared 
them  incapable  of  sitting,  and  thundered  against 
them  with  all  the  artillery  of  informations  and  in- 
dictments. 

After  his  removal  from  the  Council,  Pinhorne 
retired  into  private  life,  and  does  not  appear  to 

'  The  violence  with  which  party  with  the  wits  of  the  Augustan  age  of 
contests  were  at  this  time  waged  in  English  literature,  when  engaged  in 
the  mother  country,  seems  to  have  political  controversy.  Private  char- 
communicated  itself  to  the  colonies,  acter,  which  is  now  almost  invariably 
"Complaints,"  says  Lord  Campbell  respected,  was  then  attacked  with  un- 
in  his  Life  of  Lord  Somers, "  are  still  feeling  exaggerations  of  what  was 
made,  and  sometimes  with  justice,  of  true,  and  with  unmixed  inventions  of 
the  licentiousness  of  our  periodical  malignant  falsehood." — Lives  of  the 
writers ;  but  modern  libellers  are  Lord  Chancellors,  IV.  189.  Am.  ed. 
mild,  candid,  and  cautious,  compared 


82  TRIAL  OF  THOMAS  TURNBULL. 

have  taken  any  further  part  in  the  pubhc  affairs 
of  the  Colony.  He  hved,  however,  for  some  years 
afterwards.  His  will  bears  date  on  the  10th  of  May, 
1719,  and  was  proved  on  the  12th  of  April,  1720. 
Between  these  two  periods  he  must  of  course  have 
died.  He  left  behind  him  one  son,  John,  who  was 
an  attorney  at  law,  and  for  some  years  Clerk  of  the 
House  of  Assembly ;  but  he  did  not  long  survive 
his  father. 

Pinhorne  and  Mompesson  were  the  only  Judges 
of  the  Supreme  Court  during  the  administration  of 
Lord  Cornbury.  A  faithful  report  of  the  decisions 
of  that  tribunal,  during  this  period,  would  form  a 
curious  and  an  interesting  volume.  I  am  afraid, 
however,  it  would  not  be  deemed  of  very  high  au- 
thority. Some  of  the  earlier  proceedings  of  the 
Court  have  already  been  adverted  to.  One  of  the 
last  cases  before  it  while  Pinhorne  was  on  the 
Bench,  was  that  of  Thomas  Turnbull,  against  whom 
an  Information  had  been  exhibited  for  speaking 
scandalous  words  of  Lord  Cornbury.  He  com- 
plained to  the  Court  that  he  could  get  no  attorney 
to  defend  him,  although  he  had  offered  to  pay  them 
their  fees.  This  may  seem  strange  ;  for  attorneys 
by  this  time  abounded,  and  fees  were  not  very  plen- 
tiful. But  perhaps  the  lawyers  themselves  stood  in 
fear  of  an  Information,  if  they  ventured  to  appear 


JEREMIAH  BASSE.  83 

against  Cornbury.  The  Court  however  assigned 
the  perilous  task  of  defending  Turnbull,  to  one  of 
the  attorneys  who  was  in  attendance.  The  course 
which  he  pursued,  was  a  safe  one  for  himself,  if  not 
for  his  client.  He  advised  Turnbull  to  plead  guil- 
ty, and  throw  himself  upon  the  mercy  of  the  Court. 
He  did  so,  and  then  the  Court  pronounced  upon 
him  the  following  sentence :  "  That  you,  Thomas 
Turnbull,  do  go  to  his  Excellency  and  beg  his  par- 
don for  your  offence,  and  then  be  imprisoned  for 
three  months."  ^  But  before  the  term  of  his  impri- 
sonment had  expired.  Lord  Cornbury  himself  was 
the  tenant  of  a  jail,  into  which  he  had  been  thrown 
by  his  exasperated  creditors  upon  his  degradation 
from  office,  and  from  which  he  was  never  released, 
until  by  the  death  of  his  father,  the  Earl  of  Claren- 
don, he  was  elevated  to  the  peerage,  and  invested 
with  the  dignity  of  an  hereditary  legislator  of  Great 
Britain." 

The  removal  of  Cornbury,  was  the  signal  for  a 
series  of  prosecutions  againt  those  who  had  held 
office  under  him.  Jeremiah  Basse,  who  had  been 
Clerk  of  Council,  Secretary  of  the  Province,  and 
Prothonotary  of  the  Supreme  Court,  was  select- 
ed as  the  first  victim.     He  was  indicted  for  per- 

'  Minutes  of  Supreme  Court.  Biographia  Britannica.     Lord  Corn- 

*  Grahame's    Col.    Hist.,   I.   457.     bury  died  in  1723. 


Q4  PETER  SONMANS. 

jury,  for  altering  the  rules  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
and  for  taking  some  unwarrantable  liberties  with 
the  book  of  Freeholders.  Peter  Sonmans  too,  was 
indicted  for  perjury,  and  other  alleged  offences. 
Fortunately — at  least  for  them,  if  not  for  the  cause 
of  justice — these  indictments  did  not  come  on  to  be 
tried,  until  Mompesson  was  again  upon  the  Bench 
of  the  Supreme  Court.  They  were  both  acquitted ; 
but  the  House  of  Assembly,  nevertheless,  did  not 
hesitate  to  express  their  behef  in  the  truth  of  the 
charges,  and  in  reference  to  Sonmans,  they  scrupled 
not  to  declare,  that  he  owed  his  escape  to  a  packed 
jury.  They  presented  an  address  to  Governor 
Hunter,  praying  him  to  remove  Sonmans  from  the 
Council,  and  arraying  against  him  a  long  list  of  ac- 
cusations. 

But  Sonmans  was  not  a  man  to  sit  down  quietly 
under  these  attacks.  He  was  a  native  of  Holland, 
had  been  educated  at  Leyden,  and  held  considera- 
ble offices  under  the  Prince  of  Orange,  after  he  be- 
came William  the  Third.  He  was  a  son  of  Arent 
Sonmans,  one  of  the  twenty-four  Proprietors,  who 
was  shot  by  a  highwayman,  on  his  journey  from 
Scotland  to  London  in  company  with  Robert  Bar- 
clay. Peter  succeeded  to  his  father's  estates,  and 
thus  became  a  large  Proprietor  of  East  Jersey. 
He  was  Surveyor  General  for  some  years,  a  mem- 


PETER  SONMANS.  85 

ber  of  Council,  a  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas,  and  a  Representative  from  the  county  of  Ber- 
gen in  the  House  of  Assembly.  From  the  charges 
thus  preferred  against  him,  he  published  an  elabo- 
rate vindication  of  himself,  which  has  come  down 
to  us.  It  is  a  production  of  some  vigor  and  ability, 
and  not  without  its  value,  as  letting  us  into  the  his- 
tory of  the  times.  Of  the  merits  of  the  contro- 
versy, it  is  impossible  for  us,  at  this  late  day, 
to  form  a  correct  judgment;  but  we  may  gather 
something  of  the  spirit  and  tone  of  the  perform- 
ance by  what  he  says  of  Lord  Cornbury.  He  af- 
fects to  be  utterly  ignorant  of  any  arbitrary  mea- 
sures that  Cornbury  ever  made  use  of;  speaks  of 
not  having  had  much  of  his  Lordship's  conversa- 
tion, as  if  that  had  been  a  deprivation;  and  de- 
scribes him  as  a  nobleman  of  "  extraordinary  quali- 
fications, and  great  sagacity."  It  was  some  proof  of 
his  intrepidity  at  least,  thus  to  stand  up  as  the  apol- 
ogist for  Lord  Cornbury.  It  shows  too,  that  odious 
and  despicable  as  was  the  character  of  that  noble- 
man, he  was  not  without  his  friends  and  admirers. 

In  reference  to  Jeremiah  Basse,  we  shall  find 
him,  some  years  afterwards,  turning  the  tables  upon 
his  adversaries,  and  letting  them  see,  that  this  plan 
of  getting  up  indictments  against  political  oppo- 
nents, was  a  game  at  which  two  parties  could  play. 


S6  THOMAS  GORDON— SCOTCH  EMIGRANTS. 

The  successor  of  Roger  Mompesson,  as  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  was  Thomas  Gor- 
don. His  judicial  career  was  so  brief,  that  I  ought 
not,  perhaps,  to  say  much  of  him  in  this  connexion. 
And  yet,  he  filled  so  large  a  place  in  the  early  an- 
nals of  our  State,  and  his  memory  is  on  so  many 
accounts  entitled  to  be  held  in  respect,  that  I  am 
sure  I  shall  be  pardoned  for  throwing  together  a 
few  particulars  relating  to  him. 

There  is  no  portion  of  our  ancestors,  of  whom 
we  may  feel  more  justly  proud,  than  of  those  who 
came  hither  from  Scotland.  They  were  for  the 
most  part  of  a  class  superior  both  to  the  Dutch 
and  Enghsh  emigrants.  Grahame,  himself  a  Scotch- 
man— and  the  author  of  by  far  the  best  colonial 
history  of  the  United  States  that  has  yet  been  pub- 
lished— observes,  that  "  a  great  many  inhabitants 
of  Scotland  emigrated  to  East  Jersey,  and  enriched 
American  society  with  a  valuable  accession  of  vir- 
tue refined  by  adversity,  and  of  piety  invigorated 
by  patriotism."  Many  of  them  were  men  of  pro- 
perty, of  family,  and  of  education.  The  more 
wealthy  were  usually  accompanied  by  a  numerous 
retinue  of  servants  and  dependants. 

One  of  the  most  respectable  of  these  Scottish 
emigrants,  was  Thomas  Gordon.  He  was  a  native 
of  Pitlochie — a  place  linked  by  many  associations 


THOMAS  GORDON.  87 

with  our  early  history — and  is  supposed  to  have 
been  not  remotely  connected  with  the  Duke  of 
Gordon.  Involved  in  some  of  the  political  troubles 
of  his  own  country,  and  influenced  by  the  flattering 
representations  of  Robert  Barclay,  and  the  other 
Scottish  Proprietors,  he  came  here  with  his  family, 
some  time  in  the  year  1684.  Soon  after  his  arri- 
val, he  purchased  a  plantation  in  the  neighborhood 
of  what  is  now  called  the  Scotch  Plains,  and  thither 
he  removed  with  his  wife,  children,  and  servants. 
He  became  a  large  Proprietor  of  East  Jersey,  and 
filled  various  offices  of  honor  and  trust  under  the 
Proprietary  Government — such  as  Deputy  Secre- 
tary for  the  Proprietors,  Clerk  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Right,  Register  of  the  Court  of  Chance- 
ry, Judge  of  Probate,  and  an  officer  of  Customs  at 
Amboy.  In  1698,  he  was  Attorney  General  of  the 
Province  of  East  Jersey,  and  in  1702,  was  appoint- 
ed by  the  Proprietors  their  Chief  Secretary  and 
Register.  He  was  a  representative  from  the  city 
of  Perth  Amboy  in  the  first  Assembly  that  was  held 
after  the  Surrender,  and  he  continued  to  represent 
it  until  the  year  1710.  Upon  the  death  of  Samuel 
Jenings,  he  was  chosen  Speaker  of  the  House.  He 
was  decided  in  his  opposition  to  the  administration 
of  Lord  Cornbury,  but  he  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  betrayed  into  any  intemperance  of  language 


Q8  THOMAS  GORDON. 

or  conduct.  Upon  the  resignation  of  Mompesson, 
he  was  appointed  by  Lord  Lovelace  Chief  Justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court.  His  commission  bears  date 
on  the  28th  of  April,  1709,  and  at  the  May  Term 
following,  he  took  his  seat  upon  the  Bench.  This 
office,  however,  he  retained  but  a  few  months.  He 
had  probably  not  been  bred  to  the  bar,  although 
he  had  no  doubt  acquired  some  legal  knowledge  in 
the  various  judicial  stations  which  he  had  held,  and 
was  regularly  licensed  as  an  Attorney  in  1704.  It 
is  not  to  be  wondered  at  then,  that  we  find  him  so 
soon  rehnquishing  his  seat  upon  the  Bench  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  accepting  the  appointment  of 
Receiver  General  and  Treasurer  of  the  Province — 
the  duties  of  which,  he  no  doubt  felt,  that  he  was 
much  more  adequate  to  perform.  This  office  he 
held  for  nearly  ten  years.  In  1713,  he  was  also  ap- 
pointed Commissioner,  as  it  was  termed,  for  exe- 
cuting the  office  of  Attorney  General,  in  place  of 
Alexander  Griffith,  who  was  suspended  for  "  sundry 
misdemeanors,  neglects,  and  contempts  of  duty." 
When  we  remember  that  Alexander  Griffith  was 
Lord  Cornbury's  Attorney  General,  and  that  he 
filed  all  his  Informations  for  him,  we  shall  not  won- 
der at  his  having  run  up  a  long  account  of  official 
delinquencies.  Thomas  Gordon  died  in  1722,  and 
was  buried  in  the  Episcopal  church-yard  at  Amboy. 


MOMPESSON  AGAIN  CHIEF  JUSTICE.  89 

There  is  a  Latin  inscription  on  the  stone,  which 
marks  the  spot  of  his  last  resting-place  on  earth, 
and  which  commemorates,  in  touching  and  grace- 
ful terms,  his  virtues  and  his  worth.^ 

Upon  the  retirement  of  Thomas  Gordon  from 
the  Bench  of  the  Supreme  Court,  we  find  Roger 
Mompesson  again  acting  as  Chief  Justice.  This 
may  surprise  us.  But  we  have  seen,  that  upon  the 
death  of  Lord  Lovelace,  the  administration  devolv- 
ed for  a  time  upon  Lieutenant  Governor  Ingoldsby. 
He  at  once  embraced  the  opportunity,  which  his 
transient  return  to  power  conferred  upon  him,  of  re- 
storing to  office  his  old  friend  and  fellow-councillor 
Mompesson.  But  the  Chief  Justice  did  not  long 
enjoy  his  new  honors ;  for  upon  the  arrival  of 
Governor  Hunter,  in  1710,  he  again  surrendered 
his  commission,  and  David  Jamison  was  appointed 
in  his  stead. 

Governor  Hunter,"  although  described  by  Ban- 

*  A  copy  of  this  inscription  will  be  his    wit    recommended    him    to    the 

found  in  New  Jersey  Historical  Col-  friendship  of  Addison  and  Swift.     In 

lections  by  Barber  and  Howe,  p.  309.  1707    he   was   appointed  Lieutenant 

^  Governor  Hunter  was  a  native  of  Governor  of  Virginia,  under  the  Earl 

Scotland,  and  when  a  boy  was  put  ap-  of  Orkney,  but  being    taken  by   the 

prentice   to   an    apothecary  ;    but    he  French,  on  his  voyage  to  that  colony, 

ran  away  from   his  master,  and   en-  he  was  carried  into  France,  where  he 

listed  in  the  British  army  as  a  com-  remained  a  prisoner  for  some    time, 

mon   soldier.      His   personal   beauty  Swift  corresponded  with  him  during 

and   accomplishments   won    for   him  his  captivity.     In  one  of  his  letters 

the  affection  of  a  peeress,  Lady  Hay,  to  him  he  thus  writes  :    "  Our  good 

whom  he  afterwards  married;  while  friend  Mr.  Addison  has   been  made 


90 


MOMPESSON  AGAIN  CHIEF  JUSTICE. 


croft  as  "  an  adventurer,  who  came  to  his  govern- 
ment in  quest  of  good  cheer,"  was  certainly  the 
most  popular  of  all  our  colonial  Governors.  In- 
stead of  involving  himself,  as  most  of  his  successors 
did,  in  interminable  disputes  with  refractory  As- 
semblies, he  studied  their  humors,  accommodated 
himself  to  their  prejudices,  and  knew  how  to  yield 


Secretary  of  Ireland  ;  and  unless  you 
make  haste  over,  and  get  my  Vir- 
ginian Bishoprick,  he  will  persuade 
me  to  go  with  him."  And  again : 
"  Sometimes  Mr.  Addison  and  I  steal 
to  a  pint  of  bad  wine,  and  wish  for  no 
third  person  but  you."  In  another 
letter  he  says,  "  I  am  now  with  Mr. 
Addison,  with  whom  I  have  fifty  times 
drank  your  health  sinee  you  left  us :" 
and  he  makes  another  allusion  to  the 
bishoprick  of  Virginia.  These  allu- 
sions are  explained  by  the  fact,  that 
while  Swift  was  a  whig,  and  a  friend 
of  Lord  Somers,  it  was  seriously  pro- 
posed that  he  should  be  made  Bishop 
of  Virginia,  and  accompany  Governor 
Hunter  to  the  colony.  Had  this  pro- 
ject been  carried  out,  our  Colonial 
Governors  might  have  exclaimed,  as 
that  profligate  Peer,  the  Earl  of 
Wharton,  when  appointed  Lord  Lieu- 
nant  of  Ireland,  is  said  to  have  done, 
upon  Swift's  being  recommended  to 
him  by  Lord  Somers  as  a  fit  person 
to  be  his  chaplain  ;  "  We  cannot  af- 
ford to  countenance  such  fellows ; 
we  ourselves  have  no  character  to 
spare." 

Although  Governor  Hunter  became 
ultimately  popular  in  New  York,  yet 


for  some  years,  he  had  much  difficul- 
ty with  the  Assembly  in  that  Pro- 
vince. Thus  he  writes  to  Swift : 
"  Here  is  the  finest  air  to  live  upon  in 
the  universe  ;  and  if  our  trees  and 
birds  could  speak,  and  our  Assembly- 
men be  silent,  the  finest  conversa- 
tion too."  He  complains  of  being 
used  like  a  dog,  avers  that  Sancho 
Panza  was  but  a  type  of  him,  and 
says,  "  I  have  spent  three  years  of 
life  in  such  torment  and  vexation,  that 
nothing  in  life  can  ever  make  amends 
for  it." 

In  1728,  he  was  appointed  Gover- 
nor of  Jamaica,  in  the  room  of  the 
Duke  of  Portland,  and  died  there  in 
1734.  "  He  had  a  ready  art  of  pro- 
curing money,"  says  Smith  ;  "  few 
loved  it  more."  This  led  him  into 
gambling  speculations,  which  proving 
unsuccessful,  he  was  often  reduced  to 
straits.  He  had  some  literary  preten- 
sions. He  was  the  author  of  the  fa- 
mous "  Letter  on  Enthusiasm,"  as- 
cribed by  some  to  Swift,  by  others  to 
Shaftesbury.  He  is  also  said  to  have 
written  a  farce,  called  Androboros. — 
Swiff's  Works.  Smith's  N.  Y. 
Smith's  N.  J.  Lives  of  the  Lord 
Chancellors,  IV.  189.     Am.  ed. 


DAVID  JAMISON  CHIEF  JUSTICE.  91 

with  a  good  grace  where  he  could  not  control. 
"  Your  administration,"  said  the  Assembly  of  New 
Jersey,  in  one  of  their  last  addresses  to  him,  "  has 
been  a  continued  series  of  justice  and  moderation." 
"  You  have  governed,"  said  the  Assembly  of  New 
York,  "  well  and  wisely,  like  a  prudent  magistrate, 
like  an  affectionate  parent.  We  have  seen  many 
Governors,  and  may  see  more,  and  as  none  of 
those,  who  had  the  honor  to  serve  in  your  station, 
were  ever  so  justly  fixed  in  the  affections  of  the 
governed,  so  those  to  come  will  acquire  no  mean 
reputation,  when  it  can  be  said  of  them,  their  con- 
duct has  been  like  yours." 

He  drew  around  him  as  his  friends  and  advisers, 
men  of  the  highest  character  and  influence  in  both 
Provinces.  His  appointments  to  office  were  for  the 
most  part  made,  from  among  those  who  had  distin- 
guished themselves  by  their  opposition  to  Lord  Corn- 
bury.  Lewis  Morris,  who  had  been  the  leader  of  the 
opposition  in  New  Jersey,  was  made  Chief  Justice  in 
New  York ;  and  David  Jamison,  a  popular  lawyer  in 
New  York,  was  made  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  New  Jersey.  Jamison  had  distinguished 
himself  by  his  able  and  intrepid  defence  of  McKemie, 
the  Presbyterian  clergyman,  whose  case  has  already 
been  referred  to.  He  filled  the  office  of  Chief  Jus- 
tice during  the  whole  of  Governor  Hunter's  admin- 


92  CHIEF  JUSTICE  JAMISON  INDICTED. 

istration,  and  appears  to  have  discharged  its  duties 
with  credit  to  himself,  and  satisfaction  to  the  pub- 
he.  His  associate  upon  the  Bench  was  Thomas 
Farmar,  of  whom,  as  he  subsequently  became  Chief 
Justice,  we  may  have  occasion  hereafter  to  speak. 

The  administration  of  Governor  Hunter  was  a 
period  of  almost  unbroken  tranquiUity.  Upon  one 
occasion  only,  was  this  harmony  seriously  inter- 
rupted. On  the  fourth  day  of  April,  1716,  a  new 
Assembly  was  convened  at  Amboy ;  and  the  party, 
who  had  been  driven  from  power  for  their  adhesion 
to  Cornbury,  seemed  about  to  regain  their  ascend- 
ency. While  their  opponents  had  been  slumbering 
in  fancied  security,  they  had  evidently  rallied,  and 
had  succeeded  in  throwing  into  the  House  a  large 
number  of  their  friends.  Daniel  Coxe,  who  had 
been  one  of  the  most  obnoxious  members  of  Corn- 
bury's  Council,  was  chosen  Speaker.  The  conse- 
quence was,  that  the  House  became  at  once  em- 
broiled in  a  controversy  with  the  Governor,  and 
the  business  of  the  session  was  obstructed  and  de- 
layed. Nor  was  this  all.  Flushed  with  their  vic- 
tory, and  emboldened  by  success,  prosecutions  were 
at  once  set  on  foot  against  the  principal  officers  of 
the  Province. 

Amongst  the  rest,  an  Indictment  was  found 
against  Jamison,  the  Chief  Justice.     The  occasion 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  JAMISON  INDICTED.  93 

of  it  was  this.  At  the  November  Term  of  the  Su- 
preme Court,  held  at  Burhngton  in  1715,  a  grand- 
juror  was  challenged  for  his  refusal  to  take  the 
oath.  He  alleged  that  he  was  a  Quaker,  and 
claimed  the  benefit  of  an  act  of  Assembly,  which 
had  been  passed  a  few  years  before,  and  which 
provided,  that  the  solemn  ajffirmation  of  the  people 
called  Quakers,  should  be  accepted  in  lieu  of  an 
oath.  But  on  the  other  hand  it  was  contended, 
that  this  act  of  Assembly  had  been  virtually  repeal- 
ed by  an  act  of  Parliament,  passed  in  the  first  year 
of  the  reign  of  George  the  First,  by  which,  it  was 
insisted,  Quakers  refusing  to  be  sworn,  were  ex- 
cluded from  serving  as  jurors.  This  position  was 
maintained  with  much  zeal  by  many  of  the  lawyers, 
more  especially  by  those  who  had  been  the  friends 
of  Lord  Cornbury,  and  who  shared  with  him  in  his 
aversion  to  the  Quakers.  The  Chief  Justice  how- 
ever decided,  that  this  was  an  entire  perversion  of 
the  statute  of  George  the  First,  and  that  it  never 
could  have  been  designed  to  repeal  or  invalidate 
the  act  of  Assembly.  He  therefore  overruled  the 
exception,  and  directed  the  Clerk  to  take  the  affir- 
mation of  the  grand-juror.  But  this  the  Clerk,  pre- 
suming to  be  wiser  than  the  Court,  positively  re- 
fused to  do.  The  consequence  was,  that  there  was 
no  Grand  Jury  sworn  or  affirmed  during  that  Term. 


94  SPEECH  OF  THE  CHIEF  JUSTICE. 

The  Chief  Justice  of  course  pronounced  the  Clerk 
guilty  of  a  contempt  of  Court,  and  imposed  a  fine 
upon  him.  He  could  do  no  less ;  he  might  have 
done  much  more.  And  yet  for  this,  he  was  actu- 
ally indicted,  at  the  next  Court  of  Quarter  Ses- 
sions, and  that  too  in  the  Quaker  county  of  Bur- 
lington. At  the  next  Term  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
held  in  May  1716,  before  the  Grand  Jury  were 
sworn,  the  Chief  Justice  in  open  Court  delivered  a 
speech,  in  which  he  calmly  reviewed  the  whole  pro- 
ceeding, and  with  much  dignity  vindicated  the 
course  which  he  had  pursued.  A  copy  of  this 
speech  has  been  preserved,  and  it  reflects  no  little 
credit  upon  the  temper,  as  well  as  the  talents  of  the 
Chief  Justice. 

Governor  Hunter,  who,  if  he  had  some  of  the 
bluntness,  had  much  of  the  spirit  of  the  soldier 
about  him,  felt  himself  called  upon  to  come  to  the 
aid  of  his  Chief  Justice.  He  put  forth,  therefore, 
an  address  to  the  public,  which  he  called  an  answer 
to  an  argument  against  the  validity  and  force  of  a 
certain  act  of  Assembly,  but  which  looks  very 
much  like  a  Proclamation,  declaratory  of  what  the 
law  was,  according  to  his  understanding  of  it. 

"  Whereas,"  he  says,  "  there  has  been  of  late 
an  objection,  without  any  foundation  in  law  or  rea- 
son, started  against  the  people  called  Quakers  be- 


GOVERNOR  HUNTER'S  ADDRESS.  95 

ing  employed  in  any  places  or  posts  of  profit  or 
trust  in  this  Province  ;  which  objection,  in  my  opin- 
ion, has  a  tendency  of  no  less  consequence  than 
the  rendering  the  municipal  laws  thereof  of  no 
force  or  effect  for  the  future,  and  subverting  the 
civil  government;  I  have  judged  it  necessary  for 
the  satisfaction  of  the  minds  of  the  scrupulous,  and 
stopping  the  mouths  of  the  clamorous  and  sedi- 
tious, until  a  more  effectual  method  may  be  pur- 
sued, if  necessity  so  require,  to  set  that  affair  in  so 
clear  a  light,  that  the  half-sighted  may  see,  and  the 
half-witted  be  convinced  of  the  unreasonableness 
and  absurdity  of  that  objection.  The  rest  can  see 
and  understand  without  my  help."  He  speaks  of 
the  woful  condition  into  which  the  plantations' 
would  be  plunged,  if  such  laws  as  a  Legislature, 
lawfully  constituted,  might  enact  for  the  good  gov- 
ernment and  ease  of  the  subject,  should  by  impli- 
cation or  construction  be  deemed  to  be  repealed, 
upon  the  bare  suggestion  of  any  petty  attorney, 
who  may  excuse  himself  by  affirming  that  he  has  a 
right  to  say  what  he  thinks  fit  for  the  benefit  of  his 
client.  He  concludes  in  this  wise :  "  To  sum  up 
the  whole  I  do  affirm,  that  an  Act  of  Assembly,  en- 
titled, '  An  Act  that  the  solemn  affirmation  and  de- 
claration of  the  people  called  Quakers,  shall  be  ac- 
cepted instead  of  an  oath  in  the  usual  form,'  &c.. 


96  GOVERNOR  HUNTER'S  ADDRESS. 

passed  in  the  last  Assembly  of  this  Province,  stands 
in  full  force  and  vigor,  being  passed  by  the  Sove- 
reign's especial  command,  not  having  been  disal- 
lowed or  disapproved  by  the  Sovereign,  nor  repealed 
or  made  void  by  any  subsequent  act  of  Parliament  or 
Assembly  ;  and  that  by  virtue  of  that  act,  Quakers, 
or  reputed  Quakers,  when  duly  qualified  as  that  act 
directs,  are  capable  of  offices  of  profit  and  trust  in 
this  Province ;  and  that  the  asserting  or  affirming 
the  contrary,  serves  only  to  open  a  gap  to  pretend- 
ers to  law,  to  plead  against  the  validity  of  any  or 
all  your  municipal  laws,  when  either  their  selfish 
views,  or  perverse  purposes,  may  suggest  to  them 
so  very  ridiculous  and  absurd  a  notion,  and  to 
'weaken  (as  I  verily  believe  it  is  intended)  the  ad- 
ministration, and  unhinge  or  dissolve  the  Govern- 
ment." Even  if  his  Excellency  had  not  been  in  the 
right,  it  would  have  been  somewhat  difficult  to  an- 
swer such  arguments.^ 

'  This  address  of  Governor  Hunter,  Governor  Gooken.  He  held  that  their 
together  with  the  speech  of  the  Chief  act  of  Assembly  w^as  absolutely  re- 
Justice,  and  his  charge  to  the  Grand  pealed  by  the  statute  of  George  the 
Jury  at  Burlington,  were  published  at  First ;  and  refused  to  permit  Quakers 
the  time  in  a  pamphlet,  a  copy  of  to  serve  as  jurors,  to  give  evidence  in 
which  is  to  be  found  in  the  State  Li-  criminal  cases,  or  to  hold  any  office 
brary.  of   profit   or   trust  in   the   Province. 

The  same  difficulty,  with  regard  to  This  led  to  a  very  long  representation 

the  affirmations  of  Quakers,  arose  in  from   the  General  Assembly,  distin- 

Pennsylvania,   but  was   much  more  guished  by  that  "  ready  flow  of  grave 

serious   and    embarrassing    there,  in  yet  fretful    rhetoric  and    indefatiga- 

consequence  of  the  course  pursued  by  ble  reiteration,"  of  which  Grahame 


JEREMIAH  BASSE.  97 

The  Indictment  against  the  Chief  Justice  was 
removed  into  the  Supreme  Court,  and  at  the  Term 
of  May,  1716,  Judge  Farmar  presiding,  it  was  on 
motion  of  the  Attorney  General  ordered,  that  the 
Indictment  be  quashed,  it  being  found  against  the 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  for  doing  his 
duty  in  the  execution  of  his  office ;  and  it  was  fur- 
ther ordered,  that  process  do  issue  against  all  such 
persons  as  were  in  any  way  instrumental  in  procur- 
ing the  same.^ 

The  individual  who  seems  to  have  been  chiefly 
instrumental  in  stirring  up  these  prosecutions,  was 
Mr.  Jeremiah  Basse,  Lord  Cornbury's  Secretary. 
A  double  motive  probably  animated  him  ;  for  while 
he  was  paying  off  some  old  political  scores,  he  was 
at  the  same  time  indulging  his  zeal  for  the  Church, 
which  he  thought,  or  affected  to  believe,  was  in 
danger,  from  the  concessions  made  to  the  Quakers. 
Basse,  however,  was  an  attorney  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  liable  therefore  to  be  dealt  with  in  a  very 
summary  way,  for  his  behavior  upon  this  occasion. 
Nor  was  the  Court  reluctant  to  exercise  the  power 


speaks.      In   the  course    of  it,   they  1725  that  the  difficulty  was   finally 

refer,  with  marked  approbation,  to  the  settled    in    Pennsylvania.  —  Fraud's 

address  of  Governor  Hunter  and  the  Pa.,  II.  pp.  74 — 93.     Grahame's  Col. 

"  speech"  of  the  Chief  Justice  of  New  Hist.,  II.  50. 

Jersey,  and  quote  largely  from  both  '  Minutes  of  Supreme  Court, 
those  documents.     It  was  not  until 


93  BASSE  SUSPENDED  BY  SUPREME  COURT. 

to  which  he  was  thus  amenable.  For  no  sooner 
was  the  Indictment  against  the  Chief  Justice  quash- 
ed, than  the  following  order  was  made :  "  That 
Jeremiah  Basse,  one  of  the  attorneys  of  this  Court, 
for  being  instrumental  in  sowing  discord  and  sedi- 
tion among  divers  of  his  Majesty's  subjects  within 
the  Province,  and  also  in  aiding  and  procuring  cer- 
tain Indictments  to  be  found  against  the  Chief  Jus- 
tice of  this  Court,  and  the  principal  officers  of  this 
Province,  by  a  Grand  Jury  of  an  inferior  jurisdic- 
tion, for  doing  their  duty  in  their  respective  offices, 
be  suspended  from  practising  in  this  Court,  and  all 
other  Courts  in  this  Province ;  and  that  the  Attor- 
ney General  do  issue  process  against  him  for  a  mis- 
demeanor."^ 

Basse  would  not  probably  have  ventured  upon 
these  proceedings,  if  he  had  not  been  countenanced 
and  encouraged  by  the  party,  now  in  the  majority 
in  the  Assembly.  Their  power,  however,  was  not 
destined  to  be  of  long  duration.  Governor  Hunter, 
finding  that  the  House  was  not  disposed  to  dis- 
patch any  business,  prorogued  it.  When  summon- 
ed to  meet  again,  nine  only  of  the  members  made 
their  appearance.  The  Speaker  and  most  of  his 
political  friends  absented   themselves.     This  was 

*  Minutes  of  Supreme  Court. 


HARMONY  RESTORED.  99 

done  to  embarrass  the  administration,  by  prevent- 
ing any  supplies  from  being  voted  for  the  support 
of  Government.  After  waiting  some  days,  the 
Governor  was  requested  to  issue  his  warrant  com- 
manding the  attendance  of  the  absent  members. 
Four  of  them  presently  appeared,  and  then,  a  quo- 
rum being  formed,  they  proceeded  to  choose  a  new 
Speaker,  John  Kinsey,^  expelled  the  absent  mem- 
bers, and  ordered  writs  for  new  elections  to  supply 
their  places.  Some  of  them  were  returned  a  se- 
cond time,  but  they  were  declared  incapable  of  sit- 
ting. Harmony  was  thus  restored,  and  every  thing 
went  on  smoothly  again."  The  Governor  told  them 
he  heartily  approved  of  the  worthy  choice  they  had 
made  of  a  Speaker ;  and  that  the  conduct  of  the 
gentleman  who  had  last  filled  the  chair,  must  have 
convinced  them,  that  there  was  a  combination  be- 
tween him  and  his  associates  to  defeat  all  the  pur- 
poses of  their  meeting.  The  Assembly  in  reply 
echoed  back  the  same  sentiment.  "  Our  late 
Speaker,"  say  they,  "  has  added  this  one  instance 
of  folly  to  his  past  demeanor,  to  convince  us 
and  the  world,  that  in  all  stations,  whether  of  a 
councillor,  a  private  man,  or  a  representative,  his 


'  He  was  the  father  of  John  Kin-     and  the  grandfather  of  James  Kinsey, 
sey,   Chief  Justice  of  Pennsylvania,     Chief  Justice  of  New  Jersey. 
2  Smith's  New  Jersey,  406. 


100  BASSE  RETURNED  TO  THE  ASSEMBLY. 

study  has  been  to  disturb  the  quiet  and  tranquilhty 
of  this  Province,  and  act  in  contempt  of  laws  and 
government.  Our  expulsion  of  him,  we  hope, 
evinces  that  we  are  not  the  partisans  of  his  heat 
and  disaffection  to  the  present  government." 

Basse  was  returned  to  the  House  of  Assembly, 
in  place  of  one  of  the  expelled  members.  He  came 
as  representative  from  Cape  May,  to  which  county 
he  seems  to  have  taken  refuge,  upon  that  dispersion 
of  his  party,  which  followed  the  removal  of  Corn- 
bury.  Whether  ashamed  of  his  late  conduct,  or 
sensible  that  he  was  in  a  minority,  he  appears  to 
have  demeaned  himself  creditably ;  and  on  the  fif- 
teenth of  January,  1716,  made  a  speech  in  the 
House  which,  from  its  having  been  entered  at  large 
on  the  journal,  must  have  been  deemed  quite  an 
effort  in  the  way  of  parliamentary  eloquence.  As 
it  is  the  only  speech  of  that  day  which  has  been 
handed  down  to  us,  it  is  a  matter  of  some  curiosity.^ 
The  theme  of  his  discourse  is  the  financial  condi- 
tion of  the  Province,  which  at  that  time  was  de- 
plorable enough.  This  he  ascribes  to  four  causes ; 
the  fruitless  expeditions  to  Canada,  intestine  dis- 
cords and  dissensions,  negligence  of  public  officers, 

^  This  speech  will  be  found  in  a  of  pamphlets,  some  of  which  are  of 

volume  in  the  State  Library,  in  which  much  interest.     It  is  lettered  on  the 

are  bound  up,  with  the  votes  of  the  back,  Votes  and  State  Papers.  Vol.  I. 
Assembly,  a  miscellaneous  collection 


SPEECH  OF  BASSE  IN  THE  ASSEMBLY.  IQI 

and  scarcity  of  money.  What  he  says  about  dis- 
cords and  divisions  may  amuse  us,  after  the  speci- 
mens we  have  had  of  his  own  behavior.  ^^Hinc 
illcB  lacrymce,''^  says  he,  "  here  is  the  source  and 
rise  of  all  our  misfortunes,  our  divisions,  heats,  dis- 
cords, and  animosities.  We  are  using  one  another 
as  the  heathen  did  the  primitive  Christians,  dress- 
ing each  other  up  in  the  skins  of  wolves  and  bears, 
and  then  beating  them  as  such."  "  Would  to  God, 
Mr.  Speaker,"  he  exclaims,  "  we  could  each  of  us 
learn  to  look  upon  another  to  be  better  than  him- 
self; to  let  that  charity,  which  is  the  golden  bond 
that  connects  heaven  and  earth  together,  (and 
without  which  the  most  splendid  gifts,  natural  or 
acquired  endowments,  are  but  as  the  sounding  brass 
and  tinkling  cymbal,)  govern  both  our  lives  and 
actions.  We  complain,  Mr.  Speaker,  of  bad  crops, 
blasts,  mildews,  and  sometimes  of  epidemical  dis- 
tempers raging  amongst  us.  It  is  no  wonder  if  our 
common  Parent  sends  these  scourges,  that  by  these 
means  he  might  teach  us  to  love  one  another.  Let 
us  then  take  that  advice,  which  his  Excellency 
once  gave  the  representative  body  of  this  Pro- 
vince ;  let  us  leave  disputes  to  the  laws,  and  injuries 
to  the  avenger  of  them  ;  let  each  one  weed  the  rancor 
out  of  his  own  heart.  Let  each  of  us  look  upon  par- 
ties and  divisions  as  a  common  enemy,  a  common 


102  BASSE  MADE  ATTORNEY  GENERAL. 

evil,  and  use  our  utmost  endeavors  to  quench  that 
fire  that  has  hitherto  so  raged  in  this  Province, 
that  it  has  more  or  less  affected  all  persons,  all  re- 
lations, our  bodies,  our  reputations,  and  our  es- 
tates. Let  us  unite  in  love,  and  then,  how  inex- 
pressibly beautiful  would  such  a  union  be  ?  How 
would  it  strengthen  our  interests,  advance  our  es- 
tates, restore  our  decayed  credit,  and  make  us  a 
truly  happy  Province." 

All  this  is  very  fine ;  and  yet  this  is  the  man 
who,  but  a  few  months  before,  had  been  thrown 
over  the  bar  for  sowing  discord  and  sedition  in  the 
Province ;  and  was  for  turning  every  thing  upside 
down,  because  Quakers  were  permitted  to  serve  as 
jurors,  and  exercise  offices  of  profit  and  trust.  So 
much  easier  was  it  then,  as  it  is  now,  to  teach  by 
precept  than  example.  Basse  seems  by  his  course 
in  the  Assembly  to  have  acquired  the  confidence  of 
Governor  Hunter,  by  whom  he  was  appointed  At- 
torney General  in  1719.  His  commission  was  re- 
newed by  Governor  Burnet  in  1721.  He  died  in 
1725.  His  will,  which  was  dated  in  January,  1724, 
breathes  a  spirit  of  ardent  devotion  to  the  Church 
of  England,  which  he  denominates  "  the  best  of 
churches,"  of  which  he  calls  himself  an  unworthy 
member,  and  in  whose  communion  he  expresses  a 
desire  to  die,  and  to  be  buried  according  to  its  rites 
and  ceremonies. 


JAMISON'S  CHARGE  TO  THE  GRAND  JURY.  JOS 

No  Other  events  of  importance  occurred  while 
Jamison  was  Chief  Justice,  nor  have  any  of  his 
judicial  opinions  been  preserved.  We  have  how- 
ever a  copy  of  his  charge  to  the  Grand  Jury  at 
Burhngton,  in  May  Term,  1716,  from  which  it 
might  be  inferred,  that  he  was  quite  as  much  of  a 
theologian  as  a  lawyer.  All  his  authorities  are 
drawn  from  the  Bible,  and  a  very  considerable  por- 
tion of  the  charge  is  made  up  of  passages  from  the 
Old  and  New  Testament.  It  is  not  unhkely  that 
he  was  a  descendant  of  the  Puritans,  whose  ideas 
of  criminal  jurisprudence  were  derived  from  the 
Levitical  code,  rather  than  from  Hale  and  Hawkins. 
In  the  list  of  capital  offences  given  by  him,  we  find 
heresy  and  witchcraft  included.  Not  to  have  be- 
lieved in  witchcraft  at  that  day,  would,  I  suppose,  of 
itself  have  been  deemed  heresy.  But  I  am  happy 
to  say,  that  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  discover, 
no  prosecution  for  this  offence  ever  stained  our 
judicial  records.^ 

'  However    devoutly    our    fathers  cover  by  the  divining-rod  the  hidden 

may  have  believed  in  the  existence  of  treasures   of  the    Bucaniers." — Ban- 

witches,  they  suffered    them   to    live  croft's  U.  S.,  II.  393. 
unmolested,and  the  consequence  was,         There  was,   however,   a    trial  for 

that  in  New  Jersey,  as  in  Penn's  do-  witchcraft  in  Pennsylvania,  as  early 

main,  "neither  demon  nor  hag  ever  as    1(584,   at   which    Penn   presided, 

rode    through    the    air    on   goat    or  After  a  charge  from  the   Governor, 

broomstick  ;    and  the  worst  acts  of  the  jury  rendered  the  following  ver- 

conjuration  went  no  farther  than  to  diet :  "  The  prisoner  is  guilty  of  the 

foretell     fortunes,     mutter     powerful  common  fame  of  being  a  witch,  but 

spells  over  quack  medicines,  or  dis-  not  guilty  as  she  stands  indicted." 


104  '  ASSEMBLY  ADDRESS  GOV.  BURNET. 

Governor  Burnet,  who  succeeded  Hunter  in 
1719,  continued  Jamison  in  office.  But  although  he 
had  been  Chief  Justice  of  New  Jersey  for  so  many 
years,  he  still  resided  in  the  City  of  New  York. 
This  was  felt  to  be  a  great  grievance,  and  subjected 
attorneys  and  suitors  to  much  trouble  and  expense. 
Governor  Hunter,  however,  contrived  to  keep  the 
x\ssembly  in  such  good  humor,  that  no  public  com- 
plaint was  made  of  it  in  his  time.  But  in  1723,  the 
House  presented  an  address  to  Governor  Burnet, 
representing  that,  as  it  was  not  the  happiness  of 
the  Province  to  have  his  Excellency  constantly  re- 
siding among  them,  it  would  be  a  great  satisfaction 
that  the  Chief  Justice  should.  They  speak  of  the 
hardship  and  inconvenience  of  being  obhged  to  go 
from  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  Province  to  the 
City  of  New  York,  to  put  in  special  bail,  or  get  the 
allowance  of  a  habeas  corpus,  certiorari,  or  other  re- 
medial writ ;  and  as  there  were  persons  living  in  the 
Province,  who  were  quite  competent  to  execute  the 
office,  they  express  an  earnest  hope  that  the  Go- 
vernor would  be  pleased  to  select  some  one  among 
them  for  the  Chief  Justice.  The  Governor  took 
the  address  in  good  part,  and  promised  a  speedy 
compliance  with  their  wishes ;  and  thereupon  the 
House  resolved,  that  there  should  be  paid  to  a 
Chief  Justice,  who  would  ride  the  Circuit  of  the 


WILLIAM  TRENT  APPOINTED  CHIEF  JUSTICE.         105 

several  counties  of  the  Province,  the  sum  of  one 
hundred  pounds  yearly,  in  addition  to  his  ordinary 
salary. 

William  Trent,  who  was  at  that  time  Speaker  of 
the  House  of  Assembly,  was  at  once  appointed  Chief 
Justice  in  place  of  Jamison.  He  was  not  a  lawyer 
by  profession,  but  had  filled  for  many  years  a  high 
judicial  post  in  Pennsylvania ;  and  was  withal  a  man 
of  strong  sense,  of  business  habits,  and  of  strict  in- 
tegrity. He  too  was  a  native  of  Scotland — from 
the  town  of  Inverness — and  with  a  brother,  whose 
name  was  James,  came  to  this  country  at  an  early 
day.  He  settled  in  Philadelphia,  where  he  became 
an  extensive  and  successful  merchant.  The  house 
which  he  there  occupied  is  still  standing,  although 
it  retains  few  traces  of  its  ancient  grandeur.  It 
was  long  known  as  "  the  slated-roof  house  of  Wil- 
liam Trent."  It  had  been  the  city  residence  of 
William  Penn  and  his  family.  It  afterwards  be- 
came a  celebrated  boarding-house,  and  John  Adams, 
and  other  members  of  the  first  Congress,  lodged  in 
it.  Those  who  are  curious  in  such  matters,  may 
find  a  full  account  of  it  in  Watson's  Annals  of  Phi- 
ladelphia. Trent  was  for  many  years  a  Judge  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Speaker 
of  the  House  of  Assembly. 

In  1714,  he  purchased  Mahlon  Stacey's  planta- 


106  '  WILLIAM  TRENT. 

tion  of  eight  hundred  acres,  lying  on  both  sides  of 
the  Assanpink,  upon  which  the  cities  of  Trenton 
and  South  Trenton  now  stand.  To  this  place  he 
removed  some  years  afterwards,  and  in  1721  was 
chosen  a  representative  to  the  Assembly  from 
the  county  of  Burlington.  In  1723,  he  was  made 
Speaker  of  the  House,  and  in  November  of  the 
same  year,  was  appointed  Chief  Justice  of  the  Su- 
preme Court — his  commission  reciting,  that  the 
letters  patent  granted  unto  David  Jamison,  the  late 
Chief  Justice,  were  disannulled.  He  took  his  seat 
on  the  Bench  at  Burlington,  on  the  fourth  Tuesday 
of  March,  1724. 

He  did  not,  however,  long  live  to  enjoy  the  ho- 
nors, or  discharge  the  duties  of  Chief  Justice.  He 
died  suddenly,  from  an  attack  of  apoplexy,  on  the 
twenty-fifth  of  December,  1724,  universally  beloved 
and  much  lamented.  None  of  his  descendants,  I 
believe,  remain,  but  his  name  will  long  live  in  the 
memory  of  Jerseymen,  for  it  is  borne  by  the  capital 
of  our  State.^  Some  years  before  his  death,  a 
town  was  laid  out  upon  his  estate,  which,  in  honor 


'  The  name  of  William  Trent  fre-  as  a  "noted  churchman,"  but  always 

quently  occurs  in  the  "  Logan  letters,"  in  terms  of  respect.     In   one  of  his 

in  the  possession  of  the  American  Phi-  letters,  he  refers  feelingly  to  his  sud- 

losophical  Society.  He  is  commended  den  death,  as  "another  instance  how 

for  his"  thorough  skill  and  insight  into  little  anxious  we   ought  to  be  about 

trade."     James  Logan  speaks  of  him  the  affairs  of  this  world." 


WILLIAM  TRENT.  107 

of  him,  was  called  Trenfs  Town,  the  name  by 
which  it  was  originally  known.  It  had  before,  says 
Smith,  been  significantly  called  "Little  Worth." 
It  was,  however,  at  the  death  of  the  Chief  Justice, 
a  town  only  in  name — containing,  as  it  did,  but  two 
or  three  houses.  The  spot  on  which  the  City  Hall 
now  stands,  was  then  in  the  midst  of  a  dense 
woods,  through  which  a  solitary  foot-path  wound 
its  way  to  the  old  mill — then  called  Stacey's,  but 
now  known  as  Wain's  Mill.  In  1719,  the  Courts 
for  the  County  of  Hunterdon  were  held  here  for 
the  first  time.  Trent  presented  to  the  county  the 
lot  on  which  the  first  Court  House  was  built.  It 
was  the  lot  now  owned  by  the  Trenton  Banking 
Company,  and  on  which  their  banking  house 
stands.  It  was  not  until  1790,  that  Trenton  was 
made  the  seat  of  government  of  New  Jersey.^ 

In  tracing  the  history  of  our  Courts,  we  have 
come  to  the  administration  of  Governor  Burnet; 
and  it  seems  to  be  a  fitting  place  in  which  to  speak 
of  the  Court  of  Chancery.  For  we  are  told  it  was 
a  Court  in  which  Governor  Burnet  took  especial  de- 
light, and  in  which  he  loved  to  display  his  parts ; 


'  Barber  and  Howe's  N.  J.   Hist,  nally  published  in  the  Trenton  State 

Col.,  5283.     The  historical  notice  of  Gazette,  and  written  by  the  Rev.  Eli 

Trenton  contained  in  this  work,  is  F.  Cooley,  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 

taken  from  a  series  of  articles,  origi-  church  in  Ewing. 


108 


COURT.  OF  CHANCERY. 


and  although  no  lawyer,^  yet  being  a  man  of  books, 
and  fond  of  the  society  of  men  of  letters,  he  is  said 
to  have  made  in  it  a  very  respectable  figure.^ 

The  Court  of  Chancery,  for  some  reason  or 
other,  seems  never  to  have  been  a  popular  favorite 


'  In  the  Encyclopaedia  Americana, 
II.  336,  Governor  Burnet  is  said  to 
have  been  "  originally  bred  to  the 
law."  But  however  this  may  be,  he 
never  pursued  his  profession.  He 
was  the  eldest  son  of  the  celebrated 
Bishop  Burnet,  and  was  born  at  the 
Hague  in  March,  1688.  He  was 
named  after  William  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  who  stood  his  godfather. 
His  fortune,  which  was  at  one  time 
considerable,  was  wrecked  in  the 
South  Sea  scheme,  and  like  most 
royal  Governors,  he  was  poor  when 
he  came  to  this  country.  The  love 
of  money,  however,  was  a  vice  from 
which  he  was  entirely  free,  and  he 
carried  nothing  away  with  him  but  his 
books.  In  1728,  he  was  removed 
from  the  government  of  New  York 
and  New  Jersey,  and  transferred  to 
that  of  Massachusetts  and  New 
Hampshire.  Although  the  son  of  a 
bishop,  and  said  to  have  been  a  man 
of  piety,  yet  he  was  of  a  convivial  dis- 
position, and  by  no  means  distin- 
guished by  his  seriousness  of  charac- 
ter* His  levity  shocked  the  good 
people  of  New  England.  Upon  one 
occasion,  he  was  dining  with  an  old 
charter  senator,  and  being  asked, 
whether  it  would  be  most  agreeable 
to  his  Excellency  that  grace  should 
be  said  standing  or  sitting  ;  the  gov- 


ernor replied,  "  Standing  or  sitting, 
any  way  or  no  way,  just  as  you 
please."  A  deputation  was  sent  to 
conduct  him  in  state  to  his  new  gov- 
ernment. They  met  him  on  the  bor- 
ders of  Rhode  Island.  He  complain- 
ed of  the  long  graces  that  were  said 
by  the  clergymen  on  the  road,  and 
asked  when  they  would  shorten.  One 
of  the  committee,  the  facetious  Colo- 
nel Tayler,  answered,  "  The  graces 
will  increase  in  length  till  you  come 
to  Boston ;  after  that,  they  will  short- 
en till  you  come  to  your  government 
of  New  Hampshire,  where  your  Ex- 
cellency will  find  no  grace  at  all." 

He  died  in  September,  1799,  from 
the  effects  of  a  violent  cold  contracted 
by  the  oversetting  of  his  carriage  up- 
on the  causeway  at  Cambridge.  He 
was  a  man  of  superior  talents,  and  of 
an  amiable  character.  He  published 
some  astronomical  observations  in  the 
transactions  of  the  Royal  Society,  and 
an  essay  on  scripture  prophecy. — 
Allen's  Biog.  Die.  Belknap.  Hutch- 
inson.    Grahame. 

'  Smith's  N.  Y.  240.  Governor 
Burnet  however  had  one  foible,  which 
would  seem  to  have  disqualified  him 
in  some  measure,  for  the  duties  of  a 
Chancellor.  He  used  to  say  of  him- 
self, "  I  act  first,  and  think  after- 
wards." 


COURT  OF  CHANCERY. 


109 


in  this  country.^  The  large  discretionary  power 
which  it  is  thought  to  confer  upon  one  man ;  the 
fact  that  the  people  appear  to  be  in  some  measure 
excluded  from  it ;  and  that  it  altogether  dispenses 
with  the  cherished  mode  of  trial  by  jury,  n\ay  per- 
haps account  for  the  prejudice  entertained  towards 
it.  The  early  annals  of  New  York  and  Pennsylva- 
nia, abound  with  manifestations  of  the  jealousy  and 
distrust  with  which  this  tribunal  was  regarded.  It 
was  in  1711,  that  Governor  Hunter  first  began  to 
exercise  the  office  of  Chancellor  in  New  York ;  but 
it  was  made  a  subject  of  constant  complaint  and 
remonstrance  by  the  Assembly ;  and  so  unpopular 


1  Even  in  England  the  Court  of 
Chancery  has  never  been  a  popular 
tribunal.  It  has  at  least  always  been 
deemed  a  fair  subject  for  the  pen  of 
the  satirist.  Butler,  who  indeed 
spared  nothing,  thus  writes  : 

"  Does  not  in  Chancery  every  man  swear, 
What  makes  best  for  liim  in  his  answer  t 
And  whilst  their  purses  can  dispute, 
There  is  no  end  of  th'  immortal  suit." 

Hudibras,  III.  Cant.  2. 

Swift  represents  Gulliver  as  having 
been  almost  ruined  by  a  suit  in  Chan- 
cery, which  was  decreed  for  him  with 
costs. 

Even  the  learned  Selden  thus 
speaks :  "  Equity  is  a  roguish  thing  : 
for  law  we  have  a  measure — know 
what  to  trust  to ;  equity  is  according 
to  the  conscience  of  him  that  is  Chan- 
cellor, and  as  that  is  larger  or  nar- 
rower, so  is  equity.     It  is  all  one  as 


if  they  should  make  the  standard  of 
the  measure  we  call  a  foot,  a  Chan- 
cellor's foot ;  what  an  uncertain  mea- 
sure would  this  be  !  One  Chancellor 
has  a  long  foot,  another  a  short  foot, 
a  third  an  indifferent  foot :  it  is  the 
same  thing  in  the  Chancellor's  con- 
science."— SeldevJs  Table-Talk. 

In  fact,  it  was  not  until  near  the 
close  of  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  that 
the  Court  of  Chancery  was  entitled 
to  much  respect.  Lord  Chancellor 
Nottingham,  who  died  in  1682,  has 
been  called  the  Father  of  Equity.  He 
it  was,  who  first  reduced  it  to  a  regu- 
lar and  cultivated  science  ;  and  re- 
deemed it  from  the  disgrace  of  being 
supposed  to  depend  upon  the  indivi- 
dual opinion  or  caprice  of  the  Chan- 
cellor.— Lives  of  the  Lord  Chancel- 
lors, III.  329.    Am.  ed. 


110  COURT  OF  CHANCERY. 

did  it  become  in  that  Province,  that  Uttle  or  no  bu- 
siness was  transacted  in  it  for  many  years.  In 
1727,  it  was  resolved  by  the  House  of  Assembly, 
that  the  erection  of  a  Court  of  Chancery  in  that 
Colony,  without  the  consent  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly, was  unwarrantable  and  illegal,  a  manifest  op- 
pression and  grievance  to  the  people,  and  of  perni- 
cious consequence  to  their  hberties  and  properties. 
An  ordinance  was  soon  after  passed  to  remedy  the 
abuses  of  the  Court,  and  reduce  the  fees  of  its  offi- 
cers ;  and  from  that  time,  until  1756 — when  William 
Smith  wrote  his  History  of  New  York — we  are  in- 
formed that  the  wheels  of  the  Chancery  rusted  upon 
their  axles,  and  that  its  practice  was  contemned  by 
all  gentlemen  of  eminence  in  the  profession.^ 

In  1720,  a  Court  of  Chancery  was  first  estab- 
lished in  Pennsylvania,  by  Governor  Keith,  with 
the  concurrence  of  the  Council  and  Assembly.  It 
was  declared  to  be  absolutely  necessary  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  justice,  for  the  purpose  of  mitigat- 
ing the  rigor  of  the  law,  whose  judgments  are  tied 
down  to  fixed  and  unalterable  rules,  and  for  open- 
ing the  way  to  the  right  and  equity  of  a  cause,  for 
which  the  law  cannot  in  all  cases  make  a  sufficient 
provision.^    But  it  happened,  unfortunately,  a  few 

'  Smith's  N .  Y.,  270.  »  Proud's  Pa.,  11.  126. 


COURT  OF  CHANCERY.  m 

years  afterwards,  that  John  Kinsey,  a  Quaker  law- 
yer of  eminence,  and  afterwards  Chief  Justice  of 
that  Province,  having  occasion  to  transact  business 
in  the  Court,  appeared  with  his  hat  on  his  head,  as 
was  the  custom  with  members  of  his  society.  The 
Chancellor,  Sir  William  Keith,  who  stood  much 
upon  form,  ordered  his  hat  to  be  taken  off;  which 
was  accordingly  done  by  one  of  the  officers  of  the 
Court.  This  gave  great  offence  to  the  Quakers ; 
insomuch,  that  at  a  Quarterly  Meeting,  held  in  the 
City  of  Philadelphia,  a  committee  was  appointed  to 
wait  upon  the  Governor,  and  present  to  him  an  ad- 
dress, in  which  they  gravely  complain  of  the  act  in 
question,  as  a  direct  infringement  of  their  rights 
and  liberties.  And  such  was  the  excitement  pro- 
duced, and  so  loud  the  clamor  that  was  raised,  that 
the  Chancellor  found  it  necessary  to  make  a  solemn 
order,  by  which  it  was  provided,  that  it  should  be  a 
standing  rule  of  the  Court  of  Chancery,  for  the 
Province  of  Pennsylvania,  in  all  time  to  come, 
that  any  person  professing  to  be  one  of  the  people 
called  Quakers,  should  be  permitted  to  address  the 
Court,  without  being  obliged  to  observe  the  usual 
ceremony  of  uncovering  his  head.^  But  however 
satisfactory  this  concession  may  have  been  deemed 

»  Proud's  Pa.,  II.  197. 


112  COURT  OF  CHANCERY. 

at  the  time,  we  find,  not  many  years  afterwards, 
that  the  Court  was  considered  to  be  "  so  great  a 
nuisance,"  that  it  was  entirely  laid  aside ;  and  from 
that  day  to  this,  I  believe,  there  has  been  no  Court 
of  Chancery  in  Pennsylvania.     It  might  be  curious 
to  inquire,  what  influence  the  trifling  incident  to 
which  I  have  alluded  may  have  had,  in  bringing 
about  such  a  result ;    a  result,  I  may  add,  which 
has  been  much  regretted  by  some  of  the  most  en- 
lightened jurists  of  that  State.^ 
•     In  New  Jersey,  however,  the  Court  of  Chancery 
has  encountered  less  hostility  than  in  her  sister 
States.     While  there  have  always  been  found  indi- 
viduals, who  have  doubted  the  propriety  of  its  ex- 
istence as  a  separate   tribunal,  yet  by  the  great 
mass,  not  only  of  the  profession,  but  of  the  people 
at  large,  it  has  ever  been  deemed  a  useful  and  an 
indispensable  part  of  our  judicial  system.      It  is 
said  in  some  of  our  histories,  that  the  first  Court 
of  Chancery  ever  held  in  New  Jersey  was  in  1718. 
It  was  then,  indeed,  that  the  Governor  for  the  first 
time  assumed  to  act  as  Chancellor  without  the  aS- 

'  "  The   experience   of  England,"  their  intercourse  in  the  same  tribunal, 

says  Mr.  Binney,  in  his  beautiful  Eu-  It  is  the  misfortune  of  Pennsylvania, 

logium   on  Chief  Justice  Tilghman,  that  the  want  of  a  Court  of  Chancery 

"  and  of  most  of  these  States,  is  bet-  has  left  her  tribunals  no  alternative, 

ter  than  volumes,  to  showf,  that  the  but  that  of  attempting  this  difficult 

purity   and    vigor   of  both   law  and  incorporation." 
equity,  are  maintained  by  preventing 


COURT  OF  CHANCERY.  1]3 

sistance  of  his  Council ;  but  it  is  a  great  mistake 
to  suppose  that  there  had  been  no  Court  of  Chan- 
cery in  the  Province  before.     The  Ordinance  of 
Governor  Frankhn  in  1770,  truly  declares,  "that 
there  always  has  been  a  Court  of  Chancery  held  in 
the  Province  of  New  Jersey."     Under  the  Proprie- 
tary Government,  it  was,  as  we  have  seen,  a  part 
of  the  Court  of  Common  Right,  and  continued  to  be 
held  by  the  same  Judges  until  1698.     How  it  was 
composed  from  that  time  until  1705,  does  not  dis- 
tinctly appear,  but  there  is  every  reason  to  believe 
that  it  was  held  by  the  Governor  and  Council.^     In 
1705,  however,  we  find  Lord  Cornbury,  by  virtue 
of  his  commission  as  Governor,  and  with  the  ad- 
vice and  consent  of  the  Council,  passing  an  Ordi- 
nance, for  the  erection  and  establishment  of  a  High 
Court  of  Chancery  in  the  Province  of  New  Jersey. 
The  Ordinance  recites,  "  that  it  is  absolutely  ne- 
cessary that  a  Court  of  Chancery  should  be  estab- 
lished in  this  Province,  that  the  subject  may  find 
remedy  in  such  matters  and  things  as  are  properly 
cognizable  in  the  said  Court,  in  which  the  common 
law  by  reason  of  its  strict  rules  cannot  give  relief;" 
and  it  provides,  that   the  Governor  or  Lieutenant 
Governor  for  the  time  being,  and  any  three  of  the 

'  Griffith's  Law  Reg.,  IV.  1183. 


114  COURT  OF  CHANCERY. 

Counci],  shall  constitute  the  said  Court;  and  it 
authorizes  them  to  hear  and  determine  all  causes  in 
the  said  Court,  which  from  time  to  time  shall  come 
before  them,  as  near  as  may  be,  according  to  the 
usage  or  custom  of  the  High  Court  of  Chancery  in 
the  kingdom  of  England.  It  was  further  provided, 
that  there  should  be  four  stated  terms  in  each  year, 
and  that  the  Court  should  be  open  on  Thursday  of 
every  week,  at  Burlington,  to  hear  motions,  and 
make  rules  and  orders  thereon.^ 

This  Ordinance  continued  in  force  until  Gov- 
ernor Hunter's  administration,  when  he  claimed  the 
right  to  exercise  the  powers  of  Chancellor  alone, 
and  without  the  aid  of  his  Council.  This  was 
thought  to  be  an  undue  exercise  of  authority  upon 
his  part,  and  occasioned  some  complaint  at  the 
time,  but  his  conduct  met  with  the  approbation  of 
the  King  f  and  under  this  sanction,  and  without  any 
new  Ordinance,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  disco- 
ver, the  Governor  continued  to  act  as  Chancellor 
until  1770. 

The  first  Ordinance  for  the  regulation  of  fees  in 
the  Court  of  Chancery,  was  adopted  in  1724,  dur- 
ing the  administration  of  Governor  Burnet.  These 
fees,  particularly  those  allowed  to  the  counsel  and 

1  Book  A.  A.  A.  of  Commissions,        ^  Whitehead's   East   Jersey,   167. 
54.  Note. 


COURT  OF  CHANCERY.  115 

solicitors,  would  be  deemed  liberal  even  at  the  pre- 
sent day.  At  that  time,  they  were  thought  to  be 
very  extravagant,  and  were  made  the  subject  of 
frequent  complaints.  A  Committee  of  Council  was 
therefore  appointed  in  1730,  under  the  administra- 
tion of  Governor  Montgomery,  for  the  purpose  of 
revising  and  moderating  the  same,  so  as  to  make 
them  more  conformable  "  to  the  circumstances  of 
the  Province."  They  performed  the  task  assigned 
to  them  with  a  most  unsparing  hand.  Their  object 
would  seem  to  have  been  the  same,  with  that  avow- 
ed by  Abraham  Clarke  at  a  later  period,  when  he 
introduced  the  bill,  known  by  the  name  of  "  Clarke's 
Practice  Act."  "  If  it  succeeds,"  said  he,  "  it  will 
tear  off  the  ruffles  from  the  lawyers'  wrists."  ^ 

If  the  Court  of  Chancery  was  the  delight  of 
Burnet,  it  was  evidently  the  aversion  of  Montgo- 
mery. In  New  York,  he  countenanced  the  cla- 
mors against  it ;  declined  to  sit  as  Chancellor,  until 
enjoined  by  special  orders  from  England ;  and  then 
obeyed  the  command  most  reluctantly,  frankly  con- 
fessing, that  he  thought  himself  wholly  unqualified 
for  the  station.  "  He  never,"  says  Smith,  "  gave  a 
single  decree,  nor  more  than  three  orders ;  and 
these,  both  as  to  matter  and  form,  were  first  settled 

'  Sedgwick's  Life  of  Livingston,  434.     Note. 


116  COURT  OF  CHANCERY. 

by  the  counsel  concerned.^  It  may  be  presumed, 
therefore,  that  he  regarded,  with  no  httle  com- 
placency, the  dissatisfaction  which  the  Court  was 
beginning  to  excite  in  New  Jersey.  As  an  evidence 
of  the  growing  jealousy  with  which  its  proceedings 
were  here  watched,  the  same  Committee  who  were 
appointed  to  cut  down  its  fees,  were  also  directed 
to  inquire  into  the  abuses  which  had  crept  into  the 
practice  of  the  Court,  and  to  propose  suitable  re- 
medies. They  appear  to  have  made  very  thorough 
and  searching  inquiries,  and  some  of  the  abuses 
which  they  brought  to  light,  may  perhaps  be  recog- 
nized as  existing  at  a  much  later  day,  and  not  very 
remote  from  the  present  time. 

They  complain,  for  instance,  that  in  drawing 
bills,  matters  of  conveyance  and  inducement  are 
set  forth  too  much  at  length,  whereas,  they  ought 
to  be  set  forth  in  the  briefest  manner  possible,  and 
the  points  in  question  alone  fully  set  forth ;  and 
the  remedy  which  they  propose  is,  that  counsel, 
setting  their  hands  to  any  such  bill,  should  pay  all 
the  charges  which  the  parties  are  subjected  to,  by 
reason  of  the  superfluous  matter. 

Another  abuse  which  they  point  out  is,  that  in 
the  drawing  of  bills,  they  find  it  usual  to  amass  a 

>  Smith's  N.  Y.,  273. 


COURT  OF  CHANCERY.  117 

number  of  iniquities  against  the  defendant  as  mere 
matter  of  form;  and  to  turn  the  whole  things 
charged  into  questions  afterwards ;  "  whereas" — 
it  is  pertinently  remarked — "  when  a  fact  is  once 
properly  charged,  there  needs  few,  and  often  no 
questions  to  bring  out  the  truth  concerning  it,  other 
than  the  general  one,  to  answer  the  things  charg- 
ed ;"  and  the  remedy  they  propose  is,  that  solicit- 
ors in  drawing  their  bills  should  keep  to  the  truth 
of  their  case,  and  avoid  inserting  things  purely  as 
matters  of  form ;  and  that  counsel,  under  the  same 
penalty  as  before,  should  set  their  hands  to  no  bill, 
"  with  any  questions  therein,  which  can  bring  no 
further  answer  than  the  charge  does  require."^ 

'  In  the  Life  of  Lord  Ellesmere —  abuse  is  not  in  any  sort  to  be  tolerat- 
^Lord  Chancellor  in  the  reign  of  Queen  ed — proceeding  of  a  malicious  pur- 
Elizabeth —  we  have  a  striking  in-  pose  to  increase  the  defendant's 
stance  of  the  vigor  with  which  he  charge,  and  being  fraught  with  much 
strove  to  correct  the  prolixity  of  Chan-  impertinent  matter  not  fit  for  this 
eery  pleadings  in  his  time.  In  the  Court  ;  it  is  therefore  ordered,  that 
case  of  Mylward  v.  Weldon,  there  be-  the  Warden  of  the  Fleet  shall  take 
ing  a  complaint  of  the  length  of  the  the  said  Richard  Mylward  into  his 
Replication,  and  the  Lord  Chancellor  custody,  and  shall  bring  him  into 
being  satisfied  that  "  whereas  it  ex-  Westminster  Hall  on  Saturday  about 
tended  to  six  score  sheets,  all  the  ten  of  the  clock  in  the  forenoon,  and 
matter  thereof  which  was  pertinent  then  and  there  shall  cut  a  hole  in  the 
might  have  been  well  contained  in  midst  of  the  same  engrossed  Replica- 
sixteen,"  an  order  was  made  by  him  tion,  which  is  delivered  to  him  for 
in  these  words: — "It  appearing  to  that  purpose,  and  put  the  said  Rich- 
his  Lordship  by  the  confession  of  ard's  head  through  the  same  hole,  and 
Richard  Mylward,  the  plaintiff's  son,  so  let  the  same  Replication  hang 
that  he  did  devise,  draw,  and  engross  about  his  shoulders  with  the  written 
the  said  Replication,  and  because  his  side  outward,  and  then,  the  same  so 
Lordship  is  of  opinion  that  such  an  hanging,  shall  lead  the  same  Rich- 


118  COURT  OF  CHANCERY. 

There  were  various  other  abuses  exposed,  tend- 
ing to  delay  the  progress  of  causes,  and  enhance  the 
expense  of  proceedings.  One  is  reminded  of  that 
quaint  old  tract  on  "  the  abuses  and  remedies  of 
Chancery,"  presented  to  the  Lord  Keeper,  in  the 
reign  of  James  the  First,  by  Mr.  George  Norburie, 
to  be  found  in  Mr.  Hargrave's  collection  of  tracts ; 
in  which  poor  suitors  are  represented  as  coming 
into  the  Court  of  Chancery,  "  like  a  flock  of  sheep 
to  a  bush  for  shelter,  and  are  there  more  wet  than 
they  were  in  the  open  field ;  and  yet  the  bush  will 
not  part  without  a  fleece,  and  out  of  which  they 
go,  with  the  same  note  they  came  in,  pitifully  com- 
plaining.''^ And  he  asks,  "  Will  your  Lordship 
know  the  reason,  and  who  are  the  causers  thereof; 
I  answer  in  a  word.  Counsellors.  For  well  near 
with  every  one  of  them,  nothing  is  more  familiar, 
than  so  soon  as  the  bill  is  exhibited,  presently  to 
ruminate  upon  something  that  may  be  moved  .  .  . ; 
and  if  he  chance  to  get  a  new  order,  then  he  thinks 
he  has  done  a  great  exploit,  and  bound  the  poor 


ard,  bareheaded  and  barefaced,  round  fine,  and  twenty  nobles  to  the  defend- 
about  Westminster  Hall  whilst  the  ant  for  his  costs  in  respect  of  the 
Courts  are  sitting,  and  shall  show  aforesaid  abuse,  which  fine  and  cost? 
him  at  the  bar  of  every  of  the  three  are  now  adjudged  and  imposed  upon 
Courts  within  the  Hall,  and  then  shall  him  by  this  Court  for  the  abuse  afore- 
take  him  back  again  to  the  Fleet,  and  said." — Lives  of  the  Lord  Chancel- 
keep  him  prisoner  until  he  shall  have  lors.  11.  172.  Am.  ed. 
paid  ten  pounds  to  her  Majesty  for  a 


COURT  OF  CHANCERY.  119 

client  to  him  for  ever.  The  next  day  he  is  over- 
thrown ;  yet  will  he  not  so  give  it  over ;  but  he  will 
make  more  work  for  himself  and  his  adverse  plead- 
er, till  his  client  has  scarce  a  round  shilling  in  his 
pocket." 

The  Committee  seem  to  have  come  to  very 
much  the  same  conclusion,  and  to  have  laid  all  the 
sins  of  the  Court  upon  the  heads  of  the  lawyers. 
Their  report,  however,  was  approved  of,  and  the 
suggestions  which  they  made,  were  embodied  in  an 
Ordinance  of  the  Governor  and  Council.  How  far 
these  evil  practices  were  corrected,  we  have  no 
means  of  ascertaining ;  but  if  checked  for  the  time, 
it  is  very  certain  they  sprung  up  afterwards,  and 
produced  a  luxuriant  growth,  which  it  has  required 
the  pruning  hand  of  the  Legislature,  from  time  to 
time,  to  lop  off. 

By  far  the  most  important  bill  ever  filed  in  the 
Provincial  Court  of  Chancery,  was  the  one  known 
by  the  name  of  the  Elizabethtown  Bill  in  Chancery, 
to  which  some  reference  has  already  been  made. 
The  complainants  in  this  suit,  were  John  Earl  of 
Stair,  and  thirty-eight  other  Proprietors  of  the 
Eastern  Division  of  New  Jersey ;  and  the  defend- 
ants, were  Benjamin  Bond  and  others — to  the  num- 
ber of  about  four  hundred  and  fifty — claiming  under 
the  Elizabethtown  Associates,  and  distinguished  by 


120  COURT  OF  CHANCERY. 

the  name  of  the  CHnker-Lot-Right-Men.  The  bill 
was  filed  in  1745,  and  is  drawn  out  into  the  extra- 
vagant length  of  about  fifteen  hundred  sheets.  It  is 
signed  by  James  Alexander,  the  father  of  Lord 
Stirling,  and  Joseph  Murray,  a  distinguished  law- 
yer of  New  York.  It  was  printed  by  James  Parker 
in  1747,  and,  with  the  accompanying  documents, 
makes  a  folio  volume  of  one  hundred  and  sixty 
pages.  It  is  entitled — "  A  Bill  in  the  Chancery  of 
New  Jersey,  at  the  suit  of  John  Earl  of  Stair,  and 
others,  Proprietors  of  the  Eastern  Division  of  New 
Jersey;  against  Benjamin  Bond,  and  some  other 
persons  of  Elizabethtown,  distinguished  by  the 
name  of  the  Clinker-Lot-Right-Men.  With  three 
large  Maps  done  from  copper-plates — To  which  is 
added  the  Publications  of  the  Council  of  Proprie- 
tors of  East  New  Jersey,  and  Mr.  Nevill's  speeches 
to  the  General  Assembly,  concerning  the  Riots 
committed  in  New  Jersey,  and  the  pretences  of  the 
Rioters  and  their  Seducers.  These  papers  will 
give  a  better  light  into  the  History  and  Constitu- 
tion of  New  Jersey,  than  any  thing  hitherto  pub- 
lished, the  matters  whereof  have  been  chiefly  col- 
lected from  Records." 

The  answer  was  not  put  in  until  1751.  It  is 
almost  as  prolix  as  the  bill  itself.  The  Defendants, 
not  to  be  behindhand  with  their  adversaries,  had 


COURT  OF  CHANCERY.  121 

the  answer  also  published  in  1752,  and  with  a  title 
quite  as  long  as  that  prefixed  to  the  bill.  It  runs 
thus  : — "  An  Answer  to  a  Bill  in  the  Chancery  of 
New  Jersey,  at  the  suit  of  John  Earl  of  Stair,  and 
others,  commo7ily  called  Proprietors  of  the  Eastern 
Division  of  New  Jersey,  against  Benjamin  Bond 
and  others  claiming  under  the  original  Proprietors 
and  Associates  of  Elizabethtown.  To  which  is  add- 
ed, nothing  either  of  the  Publications  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  Proprietors  of  East  New  Jersey,  or  of  the  Pre- 
tences of  the  Rioters  and  their  Seducers ;  except 
so  far  as  the  Persons  meant  by  Rioters,  pretend 
title  against  the  Parties  to  the  above  Answer ;  but 
a  great  deal  of  the  Controversy,  though  much  less 
of  the  History  and  Constitution  of  New  Jersey, 
than  the  said  Bill.     Audi  alteram partum" 

The  counsel  who  put  their  names  to  the  an- 
swer, were  William  Livingston,  afterwards  Gov- 
ernor of  New  Jersey,  and  William  Smith,  jun., 
who  became  Chief  Justice  of  New  York,  and  after 
the  Revolution,  Chief  Justice  of  Canada. 

The  parties  to  this  suit  seem  to  have  been  at 
issue  upon  all  points.  The  Defendants  in  their 
answer,  without  formally  excepting  to  the  right  of 
the  Governor  to  act  as  Chancellor,  nevertheless 
protest,  that  Brigadier  Hunter  was  the  first  Gov- 
ernor of  New  Jersey,  that  ever  assumed  to  himself 


122  COURT  OF  CHANCERY, 

the  power  solely  to  hear  and  determine  causes  in 
Equity ;  and  that  neither  he,  nor  any  of  his  suc- 
cessors, ever  received  any  special  order  from  the 
crown  to  erect  such  a  Court.  They  repudiate  the 
name  of  Clinker-Lot-Right-Men,  by  which  they  are 
called  in  the  bill ;  declare  it  to  be  nothing  more 
than  a  "  nick-name,"  given  to  them  by  their  oppo- ' 
nents ;  and  that  the  only  reason  why  the  Com- 
plainants are  so  fond  of  using  it,  and  why  they  have 
so  often  "  garnished  their  bill  with  it,"  was  to  bring 
the  Defendants  into  derision,  and  to  cast  "  a  slur 
and  odium"  upon  them  and  their  title.  They  even 
go  so  far  as  to  deny,  that  Ehzabethtown  was  ever 
named  after  the  wife  of  Sir  George  Carteret,  the 
first  Proprietor  of  New  Jersey,  but  insist,  that  it 
was  named  by  those  under  whom  they  claim,  "  in 
memory  of  the  renowned  Queen  Ehzabeth." 

But  it  is  not  proposed  to  go  into  the  merits  of 
the  controversy.  The  bill,  notwithstanding  its  ex- 
treme prolixity,  is  certainly  drawn  up  with  much 
ability,  and  makes  out  a  very  strong  case  in  favor 
of  the  complainants.  That  the  original  deed  from 
the  Indians,  under  which  the  Defendants  claimed, 
did  not  confer  any  valid  title,  would  seem  to  be 
quite  clear ;  and  yet,  there  were  various  other  mat- 
ters which  entered  into  the  case,  and  by  which  it 
was  somewhat  complicated.     The  conduct  of  Gov- 


COURT  OF  CHANCERY.  123 

ernor  Carteret  himself,  who  purchased  an  interest 
in  the  Ehzabethtown  grant,  thereby  recognizing,  as 
was  said,  its  vahdity,  was  a  strong  point  in  the  De- 
fendants' case.  But  notwithstanding  the  immense 
labor  bestowed  upon  the  preparation  of  this  cause, 
it  was  never  brought  to  a  conclusion  in  the  Court 
of  Chancery.  Before  a  final  hearing  could  be  had, 
the  events  which  ushered  in  the  Revolution,  inter- 
rupted the  progress  of  the  suit,  and  it  was  never  af- 
terwards revived. 

In  1768,  the  attention  of  the  General  Assembly 
was  called  to  the  subject  of  the  Court  of  Chancery, 
by  a  message  from  Governor  Franklin.  He  stated 
to  them,  that  controversies  frequently  arose  wherein 
the  Courts  of  common  law  could  not  give  relief, 
and  which  therefore  became  the  proper  objects  of 
a  Court  of  Chancery ;  that  as  the  disuse  of  such  a 
Court  would  probably  be  attended  with  mischiefs 
to  the  good  people  which  they  represented,  he  had 
kept  it  open,  though  under  very  great  disadvan- 
tages to  himself;  but  that  no  salary  was  allowed 
for  the  necessary  officers,  and  that  the  fees  were 
not  sufficient  to  make  some  of  them  even  a  moder- 
ate recompense  for  their  trouble  and  attendance. 
He  recommended  the  matter,  therefore,  to  their 
serious  consideration,  and  desired  them  to  make 
such  a  provision  for  the  necessary  officers  of  the 


124  COURT  OF  CHANCERY. 

Court,  as  would  induce  persons  of  knowledge  and 
probity  to  discharge  those  important  trusts.  The 
House  requested  the  Governor  to  inform  them  par- 
ticularly, what  officers  of  the  Court  of  Chancery  it 
was  necessary  that  they  should  make  provision  for ; 
and  he  thereupon  sent  them  a  list  of  the  officers, 
for  which  he  thought  salaries  ought  to  be  allowed. 
They  were,  a  Master  of  the  Rolls,  and  a  Master  in 
Chancery  for  one  division  of  the  Province ;  two 
Masters  in  Chancery  for  the  other  division ;  and  a 
Sergeant  at  Arms  in  each  division.  For  the  Clerks, 
Registers,  and  Examiners,  the  fees  allowed  by  law 
were  deemed  sufficient. 

The  subject  of  salaries,  however,  was  one  upon 
which  Governor  Franklin  always  had  the  misfor- 
tune to  differ  from  the  Assembly ;  and  as  he  was  now 
pressing  upon  them  the  necessity  of  making  fur- 
ther provision  for  the  support  of  the  King's  troops 
in  the  Province — a  point  upon  which  the  House 
were  beginning  to  be  sensitive — they  showed  no 
disposition  to  comply  with  his  recommendations  as 
to  the  Court  of  Chancery. 

But  in  1770,  by  virtue  of  the  powers  and  autho- 
rities given  to  him  by  his  commission,  and  with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Council,  Governor 
Franklin  adopted  an  Ordinance  in  reference  to  the 
Court  of  Chancery ;  by  which,  after  reciting,  that 


COURT  OF  CHANCERY.  125 

there  always  had  been  a  Court  of  Chancery  in  the 
Province  of  New  Jersey,  and  that  the  same  re- 
quired regulation,  it  was  ordained  and  declared, 
that  his  Excellency  Wilham  Franklin  be  consti- 
tuted and  appointed  Chancellor  and  Judge  of  the 
High  Court  of  Chancery  of  New  Jersey,  and  that 
he  be  empowered  to  appoint  and  commission  such 
Masters,  Clerks,  Examiners,  Registers,  and  other 
necessary  officers,  as  should  be  needful  in  holding 
the  said  Court  and  doing  the  business  thereof;  and 
also  to  make  such  rules,  orders,  and  regulations, 
for  carrying  on  the  business  of  the  said  Court,  as 
from  time  to  time  should  seem  necessary.^ 

This  Ordinance  remained  in  force,  until  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  July  the  second, 
1776,  which  provided,  that  the  Governor  for  the 
time  being,  or  in  his  absence  the  Vice  President  of 
the  Council,  should  be  the  Chancellor  j  and  on  the 
seventh  of  October  following,  the  Court  of  Chan- 
cery was  confirmed  and  estabhshed  by  the  Legisla- 
ture, with  the  same  powers  as  those  exercised  by  it 
before  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  The  offi- 
ces of  Governor  and  Chancellor  continued  to  be 
united,  until  the  adoption  of  our  present  Constitu- 
tion, when  a  separation  was  made.     The   conse- 

>  Griffith's  Law  Reg.     IV.  1183. 


126  ROBERT  L.  HOOPER— THOMAS  FARMAR. 

quence  was,  that  every  Governor,  from  the  Revo- 
lution to  1844,  was  a  lawyer;  and  if  in  one  point 
of  view  this  was  objectionable,  by  confining  the 
office  to  the  members  of  a  single  profession,  yet  on 
the  other  hand,  it  gave  to  us,  during  the  whole  of 
that  period,  a  succession  of  Governors,  of  whom 
New  Jersey  may  well  be  proud — a  Livingston,  a 
Paterson,  a  Howell,  a  Bloomfield,  an  Ogden,  a  Pen- 
nington, a  Williamson,  and  a  Southard,  (not  to 
mention  the  living,)  every  one  of  whom  shone  as  a 
star  of  the  first  magnitude. 

But  to  return  to  the  history  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  Upon  the  death  of  WilHam  Trent,  Robert 
Lettice  Hooper  was  appointed  by  Governor  Burnet 
Chief  Justice,  and  took  his  seat  upon  the  Bench  at 
Burlington,  on  the  thirtieth  of  March,  1725.  At 
the  time  of  his  appointment,  he  was  a  member  of 
the  House  of  Assembly,  and  without  being  much 
distinguished  in  any  way,  seems  to  have  enjoyed  in 
a  high  degree  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the 
public.  In  1728,  after  having  been  Chief  Justice 
for  about  three  years,  Thomas  Farmar  was  ap- 
pointed to  succeed  him. 

Farmar  had  removed  from  Staten  Island  to  Am- 
boy,  about  the  year  1711,  and  was  soon  afterwards 
appointed  Second  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  in 
place  of  Lewis  Morris,  who,  although  his  name  ap- 


THOMAS  FARMAR. 


127 


pears  among  the  Judges  of  our  Supreme  Court, 
never,  I  believe,  took  his  seat  upon  the  Bench,  hav- 
ing soon  after  his  appointment  removed  to  New 
York,  where  he  was  made  Chief  Justice. 

Gordon,  in  his  History  of  New  Jersey,  says,  that 
Lewis  Morris  was  at  the  same  time  Chief  Justice 
of  both  colonies,  and  adduces  the  fact  as  evidence, 
that  New  Jersey  was  treated  as  a  mere  dependency 
of  New  York.^  This,  however,  is  but  one  of  the 
many  glaring  inaccuracies  of  that  work — a  work, 
in  which  ignorance  of  facts  is  equalled  only  by  un- 
skilfulness  of  narrative.  In  this  instance,  his  facts 
and  his  inferences  are  alike  unfounded.  So  jealous 
were  the  people  of  New  Jersey  of  their  more  pow- 
erful neighbor,  that,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  case 
of  Jamison,  they  were  unwilling  that  their  Chief 
Justice  should  ever  reside  in  New  York ;  and  they 
complained  that  James  Alexander,  the  father  of 
Lord  Stirling,  was  a  member  of  the  Council  here, 
although  he  was  a  large  Proprietor  of  New  Jersey, 
and  quite  as  much  interested  in  this  colony  as  in 
New  York. 

Farmar  represented  for  many  years  the  county 
of  Middlesex  in  the  Assembly,  and  was  an  active 
and  influential  member  of  that  body.    At  that  time, 


'  Gordon's  N.  J.,  97. 


128  CHRISTOPHER  BILLOP. 

there  was  nothing  incompatible  in  a  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  having  a  seat  in  the  House.  He 
officiated  as  Chief  Justice  from  March,  1728,  until 
November  Term,  1729,  when  Robert  Lettice 
Hooper  was  again  appointed.  Farmar  was  for 
some  years  insane,  and  was  frequently  obliged  to 
be  kept  in  close  confinement ;  and  this  may  have 
been  the  reason  why  he  was  now  removed  from  the 
Bench. 

The  eldest  son  of  Thomas  Farmar,  married  the 
daughter  of  Captain  Christopher  Billop,  an  officer 
of  the  British  navy,  who  had  succeeded  in  obtain- 
ing a  patent  for  a  large  tract  of  land  on  Staten 
Island,  containing  between  one  and  two  thousand 
acres.  Young  Farmar,  upon  his  wife's  inheriting 
this  estate,  adopted  her  father's  name,  and,  as 
Christopher  Billop,  became  a  very  noted  character 
during  the  revolutionary  war.  He  commanded  a 
corps  of  New  York  loyalists,  and  upon  one  occa- 
sion, was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Whigs,  and  con- 
fined in  the  jail  at  Burlington.  The  late  Elias 
Boudinot,  then  commissary  of  prisoners,  was  con- 
strained to  treat  him  with  great  severity,  in  reta- 
liation for  the  cruel  treatment  of  two  Whig  officers 
who  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  royal  troops. 
Irons  were  put  on  his  hands  and  feet,  he  was  chain- 
ed to  the  floor  of  a  close  room,  and  fed  on  bread 


ROBERT  LETTICE  HOOPER.  129 

and  water.  His  residence  on  Staten  Island  was 
well  known  as  the  old  Billop  House.  It  was  here 
that  Lord  Howe  met  Benjamin  Frankhn,  John 
Adams,  and  Edward  Rutledge,  a  Committee  of 
Congress,  in  the  vain  hope  of  adjusting  the  difficul- 
ties between  the  Colonies  and  the  mother  country. 
After  the  peace,  Billop's  estate  was  confiscated, 
and  he  went  to  the  Province  of  New  Brunswick, 
where  he  became  a  member  of  the  House  of  As- 
sembly, and  of  the  Council,  and  for  many  years 
bore  a  prominent  part  in  the  administration  of  its 
affairs.  He  died  at  St.  John's,  in  1827,  at  the  age 
of  ninety.^ 

Hooper,  after  his  restoration  to  the  Bench,  con- 
tinued to  act  as  Chief  Justice  until  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  March,  1738.  His  remains  were  car- 
ried to  the  city  of  New  York,  where  they  were 
interred  with  every  mark  of  respect.  He  had  held 
the  office  of  Chief  Justice,  with  a  short  interval,  for 
about  fourteen  years,  and  had  so  conducted  him- 
self as  to  win  universal  approbation  and  esteem. 

Nothing  could  exceed  the  tranquillity,  the  con- 
tentment, and  repose,  which  pervaded  the  Province 
during  this  period.  It  was  the  golden  age  of  our 
Colonial  history.    The  most  rapid  advancement  was 

'  Sabine's  Am.  Loyalists,  160. 

9 


130  SLAVE  INSURRECTION. 

making,  in  all  the  elements  of  prosperity  and  hap- 
piness. The  voice  of  faction,  and  the  discords  of 
party,  which  had  so  long  distracted  the  Assembly, 
and  perplexed  the  Courts,  were  hushed.  The  ad- 
ministration of  justice,  flowing  tranquilly,  as  it  did, 
through  its  accustomed  channels,  was  productive 
of  no  events  of  sufficient  importance  to  claim  our 
attention. 

Once  only,  was  this  scene  of  peace  and  security 
broken  in  upon.  It  was  upon  the  occasion  of  an 
insurrection  among  the  slaves,  the  only  instance  of 
the  kind  recorded  in  the  annals  of  New  Jersey; 
and  I  refer  to  it,  as  another  illustration  of  the  mild 
and  humane  spirit,  which  has  ever  characterized 
the  administration  of  our  criminal  justice.  Slaves 
formed  at  this  time  nearly  a  tenth  part  of  our  whole 
population,  being  a  larger  proportion  than  at  any 
other  period  of  our  history.  Whether  the  con- 
spiracy was  real  or  imaginary,  no  doubt  was  enter- 
tained as  to  its  existence ;  and  yet,  notwithstand- 
ing the  rage  and  terror  which  such  an  event  al- 
ways excites,  but  a  single  one  of  the  supposed  con- 
spirators was  punished.  This,  says  Oldmixon,  ill- 
naturedly  enough,  was  "probably  because  they 
could  not  well  spare  any  more."  But,  as  Grahame 
observes,  "  it  is  happy  for  slaves,  when  their  mas- 
ters feel  themselves  unable  to  spare  them,  even  to 


MILD  TREATMENT  OF  SLAVES.  131 

the  cravings  of  fear  and  vengeance."  And  he  re- 
fers to  an  insurrection  which  took  place  about  the 
same  time,  in  the  British  colony  of  Antigua,  and 
which,  he  observes,  "  was  punished  with  a  barba- 
rity more  characteristic  of  slave  owners."  ^  Three 
of  the  ringleaders  were  broken  on  the  wheel ;  se- 
venty-nine were  burned  alive ;  and  nine  were  sus- 
pended in  chains,  and  starved  to  death.  And  it 
may  be  added,  that  a  few  years  afterwards,  a  "  ne- 
gro plot,"  as  it  was  called,  was  thought  to  have 
been  discovered  in  the  city  of  New  York ;  and  al- 
though there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the 
whole  affair  was  a  delusion,  yet  fourteen  unfortu- 
nate wretches  were  burned  at  the  stake,  eighteen 
hanged,  and  seventy-one  transported ;  besides 
which,  a  poor  Catholic  priest,  of  blameless  life 
and  of  great  learning,  upon  mere  suspicion  of  be- 
ing an  accomplice,  was  executed,  to  glut  the  ven- 
geance of  an  enraged  and  infatuated  multitude." 

But  the  mild  treatment  of  slaves  in  New  Jersey, 
was  always  the  subject  of  remark.^  Never,  in  fact, 
did  slavery  exist  in  a  more  mitigated  form.  Among 
the  Quakers,  and  more  especially  among  the  Dutch 
farmers,  slaves  were  generally  treated  as  members 
of  the  family ;  living  under  the  same  roof,  partak- 

«  Grahame's  Col.  Hist.,  IL  105.  '  Grahame's  Col.  Hist.,  I.  490. 

*  Smith's  N.  Y.,434. 


132  DANIEL  COXE. 

ing  of  the  same  fare,  and  even  sitting  down  at  the 
same  table  with  their  masters. 

In  1733,  during  the  administration  of  Governor 
Crosby,  it  was  provided  by  an  act  of  Assembly, 
that  no  person  should  be  permitted  to  practise  as 
an  attorney  at  law,  but  such  as  had  served  an  ap- 
prenticeship of  at  least  seven  years  with  some  able 
attorney  licensed  to  practise,  or  had  pursued  the 
study  of  the  law  for  at  least  four  years  after  com- 
ing of  full  age.  Before  this,  no  previous  term  of 
study  had  been  required  as  a  qualification  for  ad- 
mission to  the  bar  ;  and  the  consequence  was,  that 
many  persons  of  mean  parts  and  slender  attain- 
ments had  found  their  way  into  the  profession. 
Under  the  wise  and  wholesome  provisions  of  this 
act,  however,  we  shall  soon  find  the  Com-ts  of 
New  Jersey  adorned  by  men,  who  were  lawyers 
indeed. 

In  1734,  and  while  Hooper  was  Chief  Justice, 
Daniel  Coxe  was  appointed  an  Associate  Justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court.  He  was  the  son  of  Dr.  Daniel 
Coxe  of  London,  the  great  Proprietor  of  West 
Jersey,  and  Governor  of  that  Province  for  some 
years.^    We  have  seen  that  he  was  a  member  of 

'  Dr.   Daniel  Coxe,   according   to  ed  Edward  Hunloke  his  deputy.     In 

Smith,  owned  twenty-two   shares  of  1691,  he  conveyed   the  Government 

Propriety.    He  was  Governor  of  West  of  West  Jersey  and  territories  to  a 

Jersey  from  1687  to  1690,  and  appoint-  company  of  Proprietaries,  called  the 


DANIEL  COXE.  133 

Lord  Cornbury's  Council,  and  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Assembly  during  the  administration  of 
Governor  Hunter.  He  was  a  man  of  an  enterprising 
character,  and  of  great  activity  of  mind,  and  his 
name  is  entitled  to  a  place  in  our  Colonial  history, 
which  it  has  not  hitherto  received. 

In  1630,  a  patent  had  been  obtained  by  Sir 
Robert  Heath,  Attorney  General  to  Charles  the 
First,  of  that  extensive  region  of  country  then  call- 
ed Carolina.  In  1663,  however,  this  patent  was 
declared  to  be  void,  the  purposes  for  which  it  was 
given  never  having  been  carried  out ;  and  a  new 
grant  of  it  was  made  by  Charles  the  Second  to 
some  of  his  rapacious  courtiers.  But  towards  the 
close  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Dr.  Coxe — who 
speculated  largely  in  North  American  proprietary 
rights — contrived  among  other  acquisitions,  to  pro- 
cure an  assignment  of  this  old  patent,  which  he 
contended  was  a  valid  and  subsisting  one.^  In 
1699,  he  addressed  a  memorial  to  King  Wilham, 
reciting  the  original  patent,  and  setting  forth  his 
pretensions  to  the  Province  embraced  within  it.^ 
This  memorial  was  referred  to  the  Attorney  Gene- 


West  Jersey  Society,  for  the  sum  of        '  Grahame's    Col.   Hist.,   I.    343. 
nine     thousand     pounds     sterling. —     Note. 

Smith's  N.  J.,  190,  207.  '  For  an  abstract  of  this  memorial 

see  Coxe's  Carolana,  p.  114. 


134  DANIEL  COXE. 

ral,  who,  after  perusing  the  letters  patent  and  con- 
veyances produced  by  Dr.  Coxe,  reported  in  favor 
of  the  vahdity  of  his  title. 

After  his  death,  his  son,  Daniel  Coxe,  of  whom 
we  are  now  speaking,  revived  his  father's  claim, 
and  made  various  unsuccessful  efforts  to  colonize 
the  country  embraced  in  it,  and  which  he  called  Ca- 
rolana^  the  name  given  to  it  in  the  original  patent. 
In  the  prosecution  of  this  purpose  he  wrote  a  trea- 
tise, which  was  published  in  1722,^  and  which  de- 
serves more  than  a  passing  notice.  It  was  entitled, 
"  A  description  of  the  Enghsh  Province  of  Caro- 
lana,  by  the  Spaniards  called  Florida,  and  by  the 
French  La  Louisiane."  The  question  as  to  his 
title  has  long  since  lost  its  interest;  and  his  de- 
scription of  the  Province  only  shows  how  little  was 
then  known  of  the  geography  of  our  country  f  but 


*  Grahame  says  it  was  published  carriage."  The  River  Mississippi, 
in  the  year  1741.  But  this  was  a  re-  through  one  of  its  branches,  is  shown 
publication  made  after  the  death  of  to  be  navigable  to  its  heads  or  springs, 
Daniel  Coxe.  It  was  originally  pub-  which  proceed  from  a  ridge  of  hills, 
lished  in  1722,  many  years  before  his  somewhat  north  of  New  Mexico, 
death.  passable  by  horse,  foot,  or  wagon,  in 

*  The  fifth  chapter  of  the  work  un-  less  than  half  a  day  ;  and  on  the  other 
folds  "  a  new  and  curious  discovery,"  side  of  this  ridge,  are  said  to  be  navi- 
of  an  easy  communication  betwixt  gable  rivers,  which  run  into  a  great 
the  River  Mississippi  and  the  South  lake,  that  empties  itself  by  another 
Sea,  which  separates  America  from  navigable  river  into  the  South  Sea. 
China,  by  means  of  several  large  ri-  This  ridge  of  hills,  passable  by  horse, 
vers  and  lakes.  This  easy  commu-  foot,  or  wagon,  in  less  than  half  a 
nication  was  by  water,  with  the  ex-  day,  was  of  course  the  Rocky  Moun- 
ception  of  "about  Haifa  day's  land  tains. — Coxe's  Carolana,p.  62. 


DANIEL  COXE'S  PLAN  OF  UNION.  135 

his  preface  to  the  work  contains  suggestions  which, 
as  they  connect  themselves  with  the  formation  of 
our  American  Union,  cannot  even  now  be  deemed 
unimportant. 

He  proposed,  for  the  more  effectual  defence  of 
the  British  settlements  against  the  hostile  incur- 
sions of  the  French  and  Indians,  that  all  the  North 
American  Colonies  should  be  united  under  a  legal, 
regular,  and  firm  establishment;  over  which,  a 
Lieutenant,  or  Supreme  Governor,  should  be  ap- 
pointed to  preside,  and  to  whom  the  Governors  of 
each  Colony  were  to  be  subordinate.  He  further 
proposed,  that  two  deputies  should  be  annually 
elected  by  the  Council  and  Assembly  of  each  Pro- 
vince, who  were  to  form  a  Great  Council,  or  Ge- 
neral Convention  of  the  Estates  of  the  Colonies ; 
they  were  to  be  convened  by  the  Governor  Gene- 
ral, to  consult  and  advise  for  the  general  good  of 
all  the  Colonies,  and  to  settle  and  appoint  the  re- 
spective quotas  or  proportions  of  men  and  money 
to  be  raised  by  each,  for  their  mutual  defence  and 
safety,  as  well  as  for  offence  and  invasion  of  their 
enemies  in  case  of  necessity ;  the  Governor  Gene- 
ral to  have  a  negative  upon  the  acts  and  proceed- 
ings of  the  Great  Council,  but  not  to  enact  any 
thing  without  their  consent.  It  was  further  pro- 
vided, that  the  quota  or  proportion  allotted  to  each 


J  36  DANIEL  COXE'S  PLAN  OF  UNION. 

Colony,  might  nevertheless  be  levied  and  raised  by 
its  own  Assembly,  in  such  manner  as  they  should 
judge  most  easy  and  convenient,  and  the  circum- 
stances of  their  affairs  would  permit.^ 

"  In  this  plan,"  says  Grahame,  "  which  is  de- 
veloped at  considerable  length,  and  supported  with 
great  force  of  argument,  we  behold  the  germ  of 
that  more  celebrated,  though  less  original  project, 
which  was  again  ineffectually  recommended  by  an 
American  statesman  in  the  year  1754 ;  and  which, 
not  many  years  after,  was  actually  embraced  by 
his  countrymen,  and  rendered  instrumental  to  the 
achievement  of  their  independence.""  It  was  in 
fact  the  very  plan,  which  was  recommended  by  Dr. 
Franklin  to  the  Convention,  which  assembled  at 
Albany,  in  1754,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  league 
with  the  Six  Nations,  and  concerting  measures  for 
united   operations   against   the   encroachments   of 


*  "  Let  us  consider,"  he  says,  "  the  interest,  as  they  are  under  one  gra- 
fall  of  our  ancestors,  and  grow  wise  cious  sovereign,  and  with  united 
by  their  misfortunes.  If  the  ancient  forces  were  ready  and  willing  to  act 
Britains  had  been  united  amongst  in  concert,  and  assist  each  other, 
themselves,  the  Romans,  in  all  pro-  they  would  be  better  enabled  to  pro- 
bability, had  never  become  their  mas-  vide  for  and  defend  themselves  against 
ters :  for  as  Caesar  observed  of  them,  any  troublesome  ambitious  neighbor 
dum  singuli  pugnabant,  universi  vin-  or  bold  invader.  For  Union  and  Con- 
cebantur,  whilst  they  fought  in  sepa-  cord  increase  and  establish  strength 
rate  bodies,  the  whole  island  was  and  power,  whilst  Division  and  Dis- 
subdued.  So,  if  the  English  Colo-  cord  have  the  contrary  effect." — 
nies  in  America  were  consolidated  as  Coxe's  Carolana,  Preface. 
one  body,  and  joined  in  one  common         2  Grahame's  Col.  His.,  II.  199. 


DANIEL  COXE.  I37 

the  French.  This  plan  of  Dr.  Franklin's  has  been 
much  talked  of,  as  "  the  Albany  Plan  of  Union," 
figures  largely  in  all  our  histories,  and  is  thought 
to  have  been  one  of  those  grand  and  original  con- 
ceptions for  which  he  was  so  famous.  And  yet,  it 
was  little  more  than  a  transcript  of  the  design 
sketched  by  Daniel  Coxe  many  years  before,  and 
which  would  seem  to  have  originated  with  him. 
To  him,  therefore,  a  citizen  of  New  Jersey,  and 
one  of  the  Judges  of  our  Supreme  Court,  belongs 
the  credit  of  it,  and  the  truth  of  history  requires 
that  from  him  it  should  no  longer  be  withheld. 
The  name  of  Frankhn  is  encircled  with  such  a  glo- 
rious plumage  of  its  own,  that  it  can  well  afford  to 
have  this  single  borrowed  feather  plucked  from  it. 

Daniel  Coxe  remained  upon  the  Bench  of  the 
Supreme  Court  until  his  death,  which  took  place 
at  Trenton  in  the  spring  of  1739.  His  early  career 
in  New  Jersey  was  clouded,  by  his  connexion  with 
Lord  Cornbury,  and  his  differences  with  Governor 
Hunter ;  but  he  lived  to  enjoy  the  confidence  and 
respect  of  the  community ;  and  his  judicial  duties 
appear  to  have  been  discharged  with  ability  and 
integrity. 

The  next  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court 
was  Robert  Hunter  Morris.  His  commission  bears 
date  on  the  seventeenth  of  March,  1738,  and  a  few 


138  LEWIS  MORRIS. 

days  afterwards  he  took  his  seat  upon  the  Bench. 
He  was  the  son  of  Lewis  Morris,  of  whom  we  have 
had  occasion  more  than  once  to  speak,  a  man  who 
for  more  than  half  a  century  filled  a  most  conspi- 
cuous place  in  the  annals  both  of  New  Jersey  and 
New  York. 

Having  the  misfortune  when  an  infant  to  lose 
both  his  parents,  Lewis  Morris  was  adopted  by  an 
uncle,  who  took  care  of  him  until  he  came  to  man's 
estate.  His  early  years  were  wild  and  erratic.  In 
one  of  his  youthful  freaks,  he  strolled  away  to  Vir- 
ginia, and  from  there  to  the  Island  of  Jamaica, 
"  where,  to  support  himself,  he  set  up  for  a  scriv- 
ener." After  some  years  spent  in  this  "  vagabond 
life,"  he  returned  to  his  uncle,  by  whom  he  was 
kindly  received,  and  who,  dying  soon  after,  left  him 
heir  to  his  fortune.^  He  began  his  public  career  in 
New  Jersey,  where  he  became  a  Judge  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Right  under  the  Proprietary 
Government,  and  after  the  Surrender,  a  member  of 
the  Council,  and  a  popular  leader  of  the  Assem- 
bly. Upon  receiving  the  appointment  of  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  York,  he  re- 
moved to  that  Province,  and  for  many  years  took 
a  leading  part  in  its  affairs  ;  and  now,  after  a  long 

'  Smith's  N.  Y.,  202. 


LEWIS  MORRIS.  I39 

absence,  he  returned  to  New  Jersey,  not  to  spend 
in  quietness  and  peace  the  remnant  of  a  hfe  which 
was  drawing  to  a  close,  but  to  enter  upon  a  new 
and  troubled  scene  of  action.  He  brought  with 
him  a  commission  as  Governor  of  New  Jersey 
alone,  this  Province  being  now,  for  the  first  time 
since  the  Surrender,  allowed  to  have  a  separate 
Governor  from  New  York. 

But  it  is  impossible  for  me,  within  the  limits 
which  I  have  prescribed  to  myself,  to  do  justice  to 
the  character  of  either  the  Governor  or  the  Chief 
Justice.  Ample  materials  exist  for  a  life  of  both  fa- 
ther and  son,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  they  will 
ere  long  be  collected,  and  embodied  in  some  suita- 
ble form.  Interesting  and  valuable  would  their 
biographies  be.  Their  history  would  in  fact  be  the 
history  of  New  Jersey  for  the  first  century  of  its 
existence.  Lewis  Morris,  in  his  youth,  must  have 
been  the  companion  of  the  first  settlers  of  the 
Colony,  and  Robert  Hunter  Morris,  in  his  old  age, 
of  the  chief  actors  in  the  Revolution.  Lewis  Mor- 
ris was  one  of  the  earliest  Judges  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Right,  and  Robert  Hunter  Morris  one  of 
the  latest  Chief  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Colonial 
Court.  Their  career,  too,  was  so  chequered,  and 
their  features  so  strongly  marked,  that  they  present 
a  most  tempting  theme  for  discussion.     But  it  is 


140  LEWIS  MORRIS. 

one  in  which  I  cannot  now  indulge.  I  can  only 
glance  at  a  few  of  the  more  striking  incidents  of 
their  life,  and  the  more  prominent  traits  of  their 
character. 

Lewis  Morris,  notwithstanding  his  eccentrici- 
ties, was  a  man  of  strong  natural  parts,  which 
were  much  improved  by  commerce  with  the  world, 
and  the  society  of  men  of  sense  and  knowledge,  of 
which  he  was  passionately  fond.  But  he  was  at 
the  same  time  a  man  of  strong  passions,  which 
were  not  always  under  his  control,  and  of  an  ar- 
dent, restless,  and  aspiring  disposition.  In  his 
youth  he  was  a  flaming  patriot,  and  stood  up  man- 
fully for  the  rights  of  the  people ;  but  when  in 
power  himself,  no  one  was  a  fiercer  stickler  for 
prerogative.  He  was  indolent  in  the  management 
of  his  private  affairs,  but  always  busy  about  pubhc 
matters.  He  had  considerable  knowledge  of  the 
law,  but  was  much  more  deeply  versed  in  the  arts 
of  intrigue.  In  short,  he  was  neither  a  profound 
lawyer,  nor  an  enlightend  statesman,  but  a  mere 
politician,  and  his  vices  were  the  vices  which  be- 
long to  that  class  of  men.  But  he  was  not  defi- 
cient in  generous  or  manly  quahties,  nor  incapable 
of  appreciating  them  in  others.  An  inordinate  love 
of  money  was  not  one  of  his  faults.  The  fortune 
which  he  left  behind  him,  he  had  inherited  from  his 


LEWIS  MORRIS.  141 

uncle.    He  was  a  kind  husband,  and  an  affection- 
ate parent.^ 

He  was  nearly  seventy  years  old,  when  he  was 
appointed  Governor  of  New  Jersey ;  but  age  had 
not  impaired  the  vigor  of  his  faculties,  nor  cooled 
the  ardor  of  his  passions,  nor  extinguished  his  fond- 
ness for  disputation.  He  was  received  by  the  peo- 
ple and  the  Assembly  with  open  arms.  They  re- 
membered, with  gratitude,  the  services  which  in 
times  past  he  had  rendered  to  the  Colony,  and  the 
boldness  and  eloquence  with  which  he  had  vindi- 
cated their  rights,  against  the  tyrannical  encroach- 
ments of  Cornbury.  The  first  messages  which 
passed  between  him  and  the  House,  breathed  no- 
thing but  mutual  congratulation  and  confidence. 
They  expressed  their  deep  sensibility  of  their  sove- 
reign's paternal  care  over  them,  in  giving  them  a 
Governor  so  exactly  adapted  to  their  wants  and 
circumstances ;  a  person  so  distinguished  for  his 
profound  knowledge  of  the  law,  and  so  eminent  for 
his  skill  in  the  aflfairs  of  government;  one,  in 
short,  who  from  his  learning  and  ability,  and  from 
his  acquaintance  with  the  nature  and  Constitution 
of  the  Province,  was  every  way  qualified  to  render 
them  a  happy  and  flourishing   people.      But   the 

»  Smith's  N.  J.,  p.  428. 


142  LEWIS  MORRIS. 

scene  soon  changed.  In  his  very  next  message  to 
the  House,  he  read  them  a  long  pohtical  lecture,  in 
which  he  assumed  an  arrogant  and  overbearing 
tone,  and  concluded  with  a  solemn,  not  to  say  irre- 
verent warning,  that  they  should  now  in  this  their 
day, follow  the  things  that  made  for  their  peace,  before 
they  were  hid  from  their  eyes.  This  the  Assembly 
did  not  much  relish ;  and  evincing  no  disposition 
to  be  dragooned  into  submission,  they  were  soon 
after  dissolved.  A  new  Assembly  fared  no  better, 
and  from  that  time  until  his  death,  there  was  one 
uninterrupted  scene  of  contention  and  strife.  The 
Governor  prided  himself  upon  his  great  skill  and 
experience  in  pohtical  matters  ;  he  could  not  brook 
the  slightest  opposition  to  his  views,  even  in  the 
smallest  particular ;  and  he  was  passionately  fond 
of  argumentation.  With  such  a  temper  of  mind, 
and  constantly  brought  into  contact  with  an  As- 
sembly, the  members  of  which  were  quite  as  un- 
yielding in  their  opinions  as  he  was,  and  who  were 
besides  always  ready  to  run  a  tilt  with  a  royal 
Governor,  it  was  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that  a 
continual  series  of  explosions  should  take  place. 

There  is  some  reason,  however,  for  believing, 
that  in  his  personal  intercourse  with  the  members 
of  the  Assembly,  there  was  much  to  soften  and  re- 
lieve the  harshness  and  severity  of  their  pubhc  pro- 


LEWIS  MORRIS.  I43 

ceedings.  A  little  incident  related  by  Smith,  fur- 
nishes some  evidence  of  this.  During  one  of  the 
long  and  tedious  sessions,  when  business  had  been 
for  some  time  at  a  stand,  the  Governor,  meeting 
one  day  in  the  street  with  Joseph  Cooper,  a  repre- 
sentative from  the  county  of  Gloucester,  said  to 
him  in  a  pleasant  way,  "  Cooper,  I  wish  you  would 
go  home  and  send  your  wife  in  your  place."  Cooper 
replied,  that  he  would  wilhngly  do  so  upon  one 
condition,  and  that  was,  that  the  Governor  would 
also  resign  in  favor  of  his  wife.  Nor  was  this  a 
pointless  jest.  For  the  Governor's  lady — whom  he 
had  married  in  early  life,  and  with  whom  he  had 
lived  most  happily  for  many  years — was  really  a 
most  sensible  and  accomplished  woman,  and  there 
is  little  doubt,  that  if  she  could  have  been  permit- 
ted to  hold  the  reins  of  government  in  her  own 
hands,  she  would  have  managed  the  troublesome 
Assembhes  much  better  than  her  husband  did. 

Governor  Morris  died  on  the  twenty-first  of 
May,  1746,  at  his  place,  called  Kingsbury,  near 
Trenton.  He  had  twelve  children,  the  two  eldest  of 
which  were  Lewis  and  Robert  Hunter.  Lewis  was 
the  father  of  L'ewis  Morris,  one  of  the  signers  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  of  the  still 
more  celebrated  Gouverneur  Morris,  whose  life  has 
been  written  by  Mr.  Sparks. 


144  ROBERT  HUNTER  MORRIS. 

Robert  Hunter  Morris  held  the  office  of  Chief 
Justice  of  New  Jersey  for  six-and-twenty  years, 
although,  as  we  shall  see,  he  did  not  confine  him- 
self very  closely  to  the  Bench.  Of  all  the  Chief 
Justices  of  our  Supreme  Court,  prior  to  the  Revo- 
lution, he  was  by  far  the  most  accomplished.  Along 
with  much  of  his  father's  genius,  he  inherited  some 
of  his  pecuharities,  the  most  prominent  of  which 
was  his  love  of  disputation,  a  propensity  not  likely 
to  be  checked  by  the  profession  which  he  em- 
braced. He  was  brought  up  under  the  care  of  an 
excellent  mother,  and  enjoyed  all  the  advantages  of 
a  liberal  education.  He  had  strong  natural  pow- 
ers, great  quickness  of  apprehension,  and  a  most 
retentive  memory.  Although  born  to  the  posses- 
sion of  fortune,  yet  this  did  not — as  it  too  often 
does — repress  the  energies  of  his  mind,  or  abate 
his  thirst  for  knowledge.  In  the  gifts  of  person,  na- 
ture had  been  as  bountiful  to  him,  as  in  those  of  in- 
tellect and  fortune.  He  was  comely  in  his  appear- 
ance, graceful  in  his  manners,  and  of  a  most  impos- 
ing presence.  He  had  a  smooth  flow  of  words, 
and  was  distinguished,  beyond  most  men  of  his 
time,  by  his  powers  of  conversation. 

With  these  advantages  natural  and  acquired,  it 
is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that  he  should  have  risen 
rapidly  to  distinction.    He  soon  became  a  member 


ROBERT  HUJ^TER  MORRIS.  145 

of  Council,  and  at  an  early  age,  was  appointed 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  It  is  in  this 
capacity,  that  we  are  chiefly  to  consider  him ;  and 
while  there  are  no  records  of  his  judicial  opinions, 
yet  he  left  behind  him  the  reputation  of  having  been 
a  learned  and  upright  Judge.  "  He  came  young," 
says  Smith,  "  into  the  office  of  Chief  Justice,  stuck 
to  punctuality  in  the  forms  of  the  Courts,  reduced 
the  pleadings  to  precision  and  method,  and  pos- 
sessed the  great  qualities  of  his  office,  knowledge 
and  integrity,  in  more  perfection  than  had  often 
been  known  in  the  colonies." 

Had  no  other  office  engrossed  his  attention — 
whatever  might  have  been  said  of  his  private  irre- 
gularities^— his  public  character  had  been  without  a 
shade.  But  it  is  not  surprising,  that  the  reputation 
of  a  country  lawyer,  and  a  provincial  judge,  should 
not  have  been  sufficient  to  fill  the  measure  of  his 
ambition.  He  soon  began  to  look  abroad  for  dis- 
tinction. In  1749,  he  visited  England.  A  plan 
was  believed  to  be  in  contemplation,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  placing  New  Jersey  and  New  York  again 
under  the  same  Governor.  Perhaps  it  was  thought, 
that  the  experiment  of  having  a  separate  Governor 
for  New  Jersey  had  not  worked  well ;  and  that  the 
more  the  people  of  New  Jersey  saw  of  their  Gov- 
ernors, the  less  they  were  apt  to  like  them.  It  was 
10 


146  ROBERT  HUNTER  MORRIS. 

to  protest  against  any  such  design,  and  to  prevent  the 
consummation  of  it,  that  the  Chief  Justice — at  the 
request  of  the  Council,  of  which  he  was  a  member 
— went  to  England.  This  at  least,  was  the  osten- 
sible object  of  his  visit.  Doubtless,  he  had  other 
ends  in  view,  of  a  more  private  and  personal  na- 
ture. He  remained  abroad  for  several  years.  He 
was  treated  in  England  with  much  respect  and 
consideration.  With  his  talents  and  accomplish- 
ments, the  graces  of  his  manner,  and  his  powers  of 
conversation,  he  was  fitted  to  shine  in  any  society. 
But  it  was  not  pleasure  alone  that  he  was  in 
pursuit  of.  He  was  ambitious  of  political  distinc- 
tion, and  courted  office.  It  was  proposed  to  make 
him  Lieutenant  Governor  of  New  Yorkj  and 
among  the  papers  of  the  Society,  there  is  the 
copy  of  a  letter  from  him  to  Lord  Lincoln,  in 
which  he  urges,  that  the  appointment  should  be 
hastened,  if  it  was  intended  to  confer  it  upon  him. 
For  some  reason  or  other,  however,  this  appoint- 
ment was  not  made.  But  a  higher  honor  awaited 
him.  He  was  a  friend  of  John  and  Thomas  Penn, 
the  Proprietaries  of  Pennsylvania,  and  saw  much 
of  them  while  in  England.  Hamilton,  the  Gov- 
ernor of  that  Province — worn  out  by  the  incessant 
disputes  with  the  Assembly,  to  which  his  adher- 
ence to  proprietary  instructions  subjected   him — 


ROBERT  HUNTER  MORRIS.  147 

declared,  that  he  would  serve  no  longer,  and  in- 
sisted that  a  successor  should  be  at  once  appoint- 
ed. The  office  was  thereupon  tendered  to  Mr. 
Morris,  and  he  undertook  the  perilous  task  of  at- 
tempting to  wield  that  "  fierce  democraty." 

In  1754,  after  an  absence  of  five  years,  he  return- 
ed, bearing  the  commission  of  Governor  of  Penn- 
sylvania. Soon  after  his  arrival,  he  met  in  New 
York  with  Benjamin  Franklin,  a  member  of  the  As- 
sembly of  Pennsylvania,  then  on  his  way  to  Boston. 
The  interview  which  took  place  between  them  was 
so  characteristic,  that  I  will  give  it  in  the  words  of 
Franklin  himself. 

After  giving  an  account  of  his  meeting  in  New 
York  with  Mr.  Morris,  who  had  just  arrived  from 
England  with  a  commission  to  supersede  Mr.  Ham- 
ilton, he  says : — "  Mr.  Morris  asked  me  if  I  thought 
he  must  expect  as  uncomfortable  an  administration. 
I  said  no ;  you  may,  on  the  contrary,  have  a  very 
comfortable  one,  if  you  will  only  take  care  not  to 
enter  into  any  dispute  with  the  Assembly."  "  My 
dear  friend,"  said  he,  pleasantly,  "  how  can  you 
advise  my  avoiding  disputes  ?  you  know  I  love  dis- 
puting ;  it  is  one  of  my  greatest  pleasures  ;  how- 
ever, to  show  the  regard  I  have  for  your  counsel, 
I  promise  you  I  will,  if  possible,  avoid  them."  And 
Franklin  adds  : — "  He  had  some  reason  for  loving 


148  ROBERT  HUNTER  MORRIS. 

to  dispute,  being  eloquent,  an  acute  sophister,  and 
therefore  generally  successful  in  argumentative 
conversation.  He  had  been  brought  up  to  it  from 
a  boy,  his  father,  as  I  have  heard,  accustoming  his 
children  to  dispute  with  one  another  for  his  diver- 
sion, while  sitting  at  table  after  dinner ;  but  I  think 
the  practice  was  not  wise ;  for,  in  the  course  of 
my  observation,  those  disputing,  contradicting,  and 
confuting  people  are  generally  unfortunate  in  their 
affairs.  They  get  victory  sometimes,  but  they 
never  get  good-will,  which  would  be  of  more  use  to 
them.  We  parted,  he  going  to  Philadelphia,  and  I 
to  Boston.  In  returning,  I  met  at  New  York  with 
the  votes  of  the  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania,  by 
which  it  appeared  that,  notwithstanding  his  pro- 
mise to  me,  he  and  the  House  were  already  in  high 
contention ;  and  it  was  a  continual  battle  between 
them  as  long  as  he  retained  the  Government.  I 
had  my  share  of  it ;  for  as  soon  as  I  got  back  to 
my  seat  in  the  Assembly,  I  was  put  on  every  com- 
mittee for  answering  his  speeches  and  messages, 
and  by  the  committees  always  desired  to  make  the 
draughts.  Our  answers,  as  well  as  his  messages, 
were  often  tart,  and  sometimes  indecently  abusive ; 
and  as  he  knew  I  wrote  for  the  Assembly,  one 
might  have  imagined  that,  when  we  met,  we  could 
hardly  avoid  cutting  throats.     But  he  was  so  good- 


ROBERT  HUNTER  MORRIS.  149 

natured  a  man,  that  no  personal  difference  between 
him  and  me  was  occasioned  by  the  contest,  and  we 
often  dined  together." 

Here  was  in  fact  repeated,  upon  a  new  theatre, 
and  with  some  additional  parts,  the  very  same 
scenes,  which,  not  many  years  before,  had  been 
enacted  by  his  father  and  the  Assembly  of  New 
Jersey.  Well  had  he  learned  the  lessons  which 
his  father  had  given  him  in  the  art  of  disputation. 
In  one  respect,  however,  he  was  more  unfortunate 
than  his  father ;  for  in  this  war  of  words,  he  was 
destined  to  encounter  in  the  person  of  Franklin,  a 
foeman,  whose  blade  was  as  keen  as  his  own,  and 
who  was  quite  as  much  a  master  of  the  art  of 
fence. 

Upon  his  receiving  the  appointment  of  Gov- 
ernor of  Pennsylvania,  he  tendered  his  resignation 
as  Chief  Justice,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Lords 
of  Trade,  a  draft  of  which,  bearing  date  on  the 
twenty-ninth  of  March,  1754,  is  among  the  Ruther- 
furd  Collection  of  Papers.  I  am  indebted  to  Mr. 
Whitehead  for  some  interesting  extracts  from  this 
letter,  containing  a  variety  of  suggestions  touching 
appointments  to  office  in  New  Jersey.  He  dwells 
upon  the  importance  of  filling  the  office  of  Attorney 
General  with  a  man  of  character  and  abilities — 
one,  "  whose  knowledge  and  standing  in  the  law, 


150  ROBERT  HUNTER  MORRIS. 

may  render  him  respected  by  the  Courts,  and  en- 
able him  to  act  up  to  the  duties  of  his  office."  He 
recommends  for  that  station  David  Ogden,  as  a 
man  of  character  and  fortune,  of  more  than  twenty 
years'  standing  at  the  Bar,  among  the  first  in  the 
profession,  and  firmly  attached  to  the  Government. 
He  names  as  his  successor  in  the  office  of  Chief 
Justice,  Richard  Saltar;  "a  man,"  he  says,  "of 
understanding  and  fortune,  a  firm  friend  to  the 
Government,  and  will  act  in  that  station  with  ho- 
nor to  himself,  and  justice  to  the  public."  He  did 
not  think  Samuel  Nevill  would  do ;  "  his  circum- 
stances," he  observes,  "  are  so  low,  and  he  is,  from 
that  reason,  unfit  to  be  trusted  in  the  principal  seat 
of  justice."  It  is  very  evident,  that  Mr.  Morris 
esteemed  the  possession  of  wealth  an  indispensable 
requisite  for  high  office. 

However,  the  resignation  of  the  Chief  Justice 
was  not  accepted,  and  he  held  the  office  the  whole 
time  he  was  Governor  of  Pennsylvania.  But  the 
Bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  was,  in  the  mean- 
while, ably  filled,  by  Nevill  and  Saltar,  the  associate 
Justices. 

In  1756,  Mr.  Morris  relinquished  his  situation 
as  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  and  resumed  his  du- 
ties as  Chief  Justice.  But  the  next  year,  1757,  we 
find  him  making  another  visit  to  England,  and  dur- 


WILLIAM  AYNSLEY.  151 

ing  his  absence,  William  Aynsley  was  appointed 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  As  Mr.  Mor- 
ris held  his  commission  during  good  behavior,  it 
is  not  known  upon  what  ground  a  vacancy  was 
thought  to  exist.  The  appointment  of  Aynsley 
may  perhaps  be  accounted  for,  by  the  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances attending  the  Government  of  the  Pro- 
vince at  that  time.  Upon  the  death  of  Governor 
Belcher — which  took  place  on  the  thirty-first  of 
August,  1757 — the  administration,  of  right,  de- 
volved upon  John  Reading,  the  first  named  of  the 
Councillors.  His  age  and  infirmities,  however, 
were  such,  that  he  at  first  refused  to  act,  and  it 
was  with  the  utmost  reluctance  that  he  was  at  last 
prevailed  upon  to  assume  the  duties.  For  more 
than  a  month,  the  Government  was  administered 
by  the  whole  Council.  It  was  not  until  the  thir- 
teenth of  June,  1758,  that  Governor  Bernard  ar- 
rived. It  was  during  this  interregnum,  if  it  may  be 
so  called,  that  Aynsley  was  appointed.  He  took 
his  seat  upon  the  Bench  in  March,  1758,  and  acted 
as  Chief  Justice  during  that  and  the  following  term. 
But  he  did  not  long  survive  his  appointment:  he 
died  in  the  latter  part  of  1758,  or  early  in  1759. 

Shortly  after  the  death  of  Aynsley,  it  was  an- 
nounced, that  one  Nathaniel  Jones  had  been  ap- 
pointed Chief  Justice  of  New  Jersey  ;  that  he  had 


152  NATHANIEL  JONES. 

kissed  the  hands  of  his  sovereign  George  the  Third, 
and  was  about  to  sail  for  America  to  enter  upon  the 
duties  of  his  office.  Who  this  gentleman  was,  I 
have  not  been  able  to  ascertain ;  but,  in  all  proba- 
bihty,  he  was  some  briefless  barrister  of  London, 
who  had  contrived  in  some  way  to  make  himself 
useful  to  the  Government,  and  who  was  to  be  re- 
warded by  the  Chief-Justiceship  of  New  Jersey. 
He  arrived  at  New  York,  on  the  twelfth  of  Novem- 
ber, 1759,  and  at  once  proceeded  to  Amboy,  where 
he  received  his  commission  from  Governor  Ber- 
nard. Being  thus  invested  with  his  new  dignity, 
he  made  a  visit  to  Elizabethtown,  where  he  was 
received  with  much  ceremony.  A  public  enter- 
tainment was  given  to  him,  and  the  Mayor  and 
civil  authorities  presented  an  address,  congratulat- 
ing him  upon  his  safe  arrival  in  the  Colony.  To 
this  he  returned  a  flattering  response,  promising 
himself  much  happiness  from  a  residence  among  so 
"  humane  and  religious  a  people,"  and  pledging 
himself  to  a  faithful  performance  of  the  duties  of 
his  office. 

At  the  next  term  of  the  Supreme  Court,  which 
was  held  in  March,  1760,  he  appeared,  produced 
his  commission,  and  prayed  that  the  oath  of  office 
might  be  administered  to  him.  But  here  an  unex- 
pected difficulty  arose.     The  seat  of  the  Chief  Jus- 


NATHANIEL  JONES.  153 

tice  was  already  occupied.  Robert  Hunter  Morris 
was  again  upon  the  Bench,  claiming  to  be  still  the 
Chief  Justice  of  New  Jersey.  Judge  Nevill  was  by 
his  side.  It  was  altogether  an  awkward  business, 
a  very  embarrassing  affair.  On  the  one  hand,  Mr. 
Jones  had  his  commission  read,  by  which  he  was 
appointed  Chief  Justice  in  the  room  of  William 
Aynsley  deceased.  He  also  referred  to  a  number 
of  entries  in  the  minutes  of  the  Court,  from  which 
it  appeared,  that  at  the  Term  of  March,  1758,  the 
commission  of  Aynsley  as  Chief  Justice  had  been 
openly  read,  and  that  he  had  actually  sat  upon  the 
Bench  during  that  and  the  following  Term.  This 
was  certainly  a  very  strong  case  for  Mr.  Jones. 
But  on  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Morris  produced  his 
commission,  bearing  date  on  the  seventeenth  day  of 
March,  1738,  appointing  him  to  the  office  of  Chief 
Justice,  in  place  of  Robert  Lettice  Hooper,  to  hold 
and  enjoy  the  same  during  good  behavior. 

In  this  dilemma,  it  became  necessary  for  the 
Court  to  decide.  Mr.  Morris  of  course  took  no 
part  in  the  decision,  and  the  opinion  of  the  Court 
was  pronounced  by  Mr.  Justice  Nevill.  It  was  to 
this  effect;  that,  inasmuch  as  the  commission  of 
Mr.  Morris  conferred  upon  him  a  freehold  in  the 
office  of  Chief  Justice  of  the  Province  of  New  Jer- 
sey, and  nothing  had  been  shown  to  divest  him 


154  NATHANIEL  JONES— ROBERT  H.  MORRIS. 

thereof,  the  Court  could  not  administer  the  oath  of 
office  to  Mr.  Jones,  or  admit  him  to  enter  upon  the 
execution  of  the  duties  of  Chief  Justice  ;  but  would 
leave  his  right,  if  he  had  any,  to  be  determined  by 
a  due  course  of  law.  Mr.  Morris  at  the  same  time 
stated,  from  the  Bench,  that  David  Ogden  and 
Charles  Read  would  appear  for  him,  and  defend 
any  suit  that  might  be  brought  against  him,  touch- 
incT  his  right  to  the  office.^  Thus  ended  for  the 
time  this  notable  controversy;  nor  does  it  appear 
ever  to  have  been  revived.  Mr.  Jones  quietly  put 
his  commission  in  his  pocket,  and  returned  whence 
he  came,  not  finding  his  hopes  of  "happiness" 
likely  to  be  realized  in  this  New  World,  and  proba- 
bly concluding,  that  the  people  of  New  Jersey  were 
not  quite  so  "  humane  and  religious,"  as  he  had 
taken  them  to  be. 

Mr.  Morris  continued  to  occupy,  without  inter- 
ruption, the  seat  of  Chief  Justice  until  his  death. 
He  was  too  important  a  man  in  the  Colony,  and 
too  good  a  friend  to  the  Government,  to  be  discard- 
ed. The  appointment  of  Jones  had  been  in  all 
probability  made,  under  some  misapprehension,  or 
from  a  befief  that  Mr.  Morris  had  no  wish  to  return 
to  the  Bench. 

'  Minutes  of  Supreme  Court. 


ROBERT  H.  MORRIS— SAMUEL  NEVILL.  155 

But  we  must  hasten  to  the  close  of  the  Chief 
Justice's  career.  It  was  a  sudden  and  a  melan- 
choly one.  On  the  morning  of  the  twenty-seventh 
of  January,  1764,  he  left  Morrisiana,  in  fiile  health 
and  spirits,  on  a  visit  to  Shrewsbury,  where  he  had 
a  cousin  residing,  the  wife  of  the  clergyman  of  the 
parish.  In  the  evening,  there  was  a  dance  in  the 
village,  and  all  the  respectable  families  of  the 
neighborhood  were  assembled.  The  Chief  Justice 
made  one  of  the  gay  throng,  and  entered  heartily, 
as  was  his  wont,  into  the  festivities  of  the  occa- 
sion. He  led  out  the  parson's  wife,  opened  the 
ball,  danced  down  six  couple,  and  then — without  a 
word,  or  a  groan,  or  a  sigh — fell  dead  upon  the 
floor. 

Such  is  the  sad  story  of  his  end,  given  in  a  let- 
ter from  William  Smith,  the  Provincial  historian  of 
New  York,  to  his  friend  Horatio  Gates,  which  is 
preserved  in  the  library  of  the  New  York  Histori- 
cal Society.  And  he  adds,  "  Unhappy  Jersey  has 
lost  her  best  ornament." 

Samuel  Nevill,  was  second  Judge  of  the  Su- 
preme Court,  while  Morris  was  the  Chief  Justice. 
He  was  a  son  of  John  Nevill,  of  Stafford  in  Eng- 
land ;  had  received  a  liberal  education ;  and  previ- 
ous to  his  coming  to  America,  had  been  editor  of 
the  London  Morning  Post.      His   sister  was   the 


156  SAMUEL  NEVILL. 

second  wife  of  Peter  Sonmans — of  whom  we  have 
already  spoken — and  who  dying  in  March,  1734, 
left  the  whole  of  his  estate — including  his  large 
proprietary  interests  in  New  Jersey — to  his  widow. 
She  died  in  the  month  of  December,  of  the  follow- 
ing year,  intestate,  and  Samuel  Nevill,  being  her 
eldest  brother,  inherited  the  property.  He  at  once 
embarked  for  New  Jersey,  to  look  after  the  estate, 
to  which  he  had  thus  fallen  heir ;  and  arriving  here 
in  May,  1736,  took  up  his  residence  at  Aniboy. 
He  soon  rose  to  eminence,  and  became  a  man  of 
much  influence  in  the  Colony.  He  was  for  many 
years  a  member  of  the  Assembly,  and  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  time,  Speaker  of  the  House. 
He  was  the  strenuous  supporter  of  the  rights  of 
the  Proprietors  of  East  Jersey,  in  their  difliculties 
with  the  Elizabethtown  and  Newark  rioters,  and 
some  of  the  speeches  which  he  delivered  upon  the 
occasion  in  the  Assembly,  were  pubhshed  in  con- 
nexion with  the  Bill  in  Chancery,  and  have  thus 
been  preserved.  He  was  also  the  principal  cham- 
pion of  the  Assembly,  in  their  long  contests  with 
Governor  Morris,  and  penned  some  of  those  caus- 
tic addresses  in  reply  to  the  speeches  of  his  Ex- 
cellency. This  may  perhaps  account  for  the  dis- 
paraging terms  in  which  he  is  spoken  of  by  Robert 
Hunter  Morris,  in  his  letter  to  the  Lords  of  Trade, 


SAMUEL  NEVILL.  I57 

before  referred  to.  In  1748,  he  was  appointed  a 
Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  for  a  period  of 
sixteen  years,  continued  to  discharge  the  duties  of 
that  office  with  great  fideUty.  While  upon  the 
Bench,  he  pubhshed,  under  the  direction  of  the 
General  Assembly,  an  edition  of  the  laws  of  the 
Province,  in  two  volumes ;  containing  all  the  acts 
of  Assembly  from  the  Surrender,  in  1702,  to  the 
first  of  George  the  First,  1761.  The  first  vol- 
ume was  published  in  1752,  and  the  second  in 
1761. 

Judge  Nevill  was  not  only  a  man  of  ability,  but 
of  considerable  literary  pretensions.  In  January, 
1758,  appeared  the  first  number  of  "  The  New 
American  Magazine."  It  was  printed  by  James 
Parker,  published  at  Woodbridge,  in  the  county  of 
Middlesex,  and  edited  by  the  Hon.  Samuel  Nevill, 
under  the  cognomen  of  Sylvamis  Americanus.  It 
was  the  first  periodical  of  any  description  that  was 
published  in  New  Jersey,  and  the  second  magazine 
of  the  kind  on  the  continent.  It  continued  to  make 
its  appearance  regularly  until  March,  1760,  when  it 
was  discontinued  for  want  of  patronage.  Altoge- 
ther it  was  a  very  creditable  publication.' 

Upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Morris,  Judge  Nevill 

'  Barber  and  Howe's  N.  J.  Hist.  Col.,  44. 


158  CHARLES  READ. 

would  probably  have  been  appointed  Chief  Justice, 
had  not  his  advanced  age,  and  growing  infirmities, 
in  a  great  measure  disqualified  him.  He  died,  in 
fact,  but  a  few  months  after  the  Chief  Justice,  in 
the  sixty-seventh  year  of  his  age,  leaving  behind 
him  a  name,  unsullied  by  the  slightest  stain,  and 
which  deserves  to  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance. 
Charles  Read  was  appointed  to  succeed  Robert 
Hunter  Morris  as  Chief  Justice.  His  commission 
is  dated  on  the  twentieth  of  February,  1764,  and  at 
the  March  Term  following,  he  took  his  seat  upon 
the  Bench.  William  Smyth,  in  his  letter  to  Hora- 
tio Gates,  speaks  of  this  appointment  as  an  objec- 
tionable one,  and  after  commenting  upon  it  at  some 
length,  exclaims  ;  "  Franklin  after  Boone — after 
Morris,  Read !  Patience,  kind  heavens !"  On  the 
other  hand.  Lord  Stirling  addressed  a  letter  to 
Governor  Franklin,  shortly  after  the  death  of  Mr. 
Morris,  in  which  he  recommends  Charles  Read  as 
a  very  suitable  person  to  fill  the  office  of  Chief  Jus- 
tice.^ He  officiated  as  Chief  Justice,  however,  but 
a  few  months.  Whether  the  appointment  gave 
dissatisfaction,  or  was  designed  only  as  a  tempo- 
rary one,  the  fact  is,  he  was  soon  displaced,  and 
consented  again  to  take  the  place  of  second  Judge, 

'  Duer's  Life  of  Lord  Stirling,  80. 


FREDERICK  SMYTH.  159 

which  he  had  held  for  some  time  before  Mr.  Mor- 
ris's death. 

The  last  Chief  Justice  of  the  Colony  of  New 
Jersey  was  Frederick  Smyth.  He  was  appointed 
on  the  seventeenth  of  October,  1764,  and  continued 
in  office  until  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of 
1776.  I  need  not  say,  that  this  was  a  most  event- 
ful period  in  the  history  of  the  Colonies.  The 
Stamp  Act  was  passed  soon  after  his  elevation  to 
the  Bench,  and  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
was  adopted  a  few  days  after  his  retirement 
from  it. 

New  Jersey  shared  with  her  sister  Colonies,  in 
the  indignation  and  alarm  which  was  occasioned 
by  the  passage  of  the  Stamp  Act,  and  nowhere  did 
it  encounter  a  more  vigorous,  though  peaceful  re- 
sistance. The  lawyers  of  New  Jersey  were  the 
first  to  adopt  measures  for  a  systematic  opposition 
to  the  use  of  stamps.  At  the  September  Term  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  1765,  a  meeting  of  the  Bar 
was  held  at  Amboy,  for  the  purpose  of  considering 
what  steps  it  would  be  proper  to  pursue  upon  the 
arrival  of  the  stamps,  which  were  then  shortly  ex- 
pected. There  was  a  full  and  general  attendance, 
and  after  a  free  interchange  of  sentiment,  it  was 
unanimously  resolved,  that  they  would  not  consent 
to  make  use   of  the   stamps,  under  any  circum- 


160  THE  LAWYERS  OPPOSE  THE  STAMP  ACT. 

stances,  or  for  any  purposes  whatever.  The  effect 
of  such  a  resolution,  was  to  put  an  entire  stop  to 
the  transaction  of  all  legal  business,  and  thus  ren- 
der the  odious  act  wholy  unproductive  as  a  source 
of  revenue.  It  was  the  most  efficient  measure, 
therefore,  that  could  have  been  adopted,  and  the 
more  creditable  to  them,  inasmuch  as  they  were 
likely  to  be  the  principal  sufferers  by  it.  Their 
wise  and  patriotic  example  was  much  applauded  at 
the  time,  and  was  soon  followed  in  other  Colonies ; 
but,  like  every  thing  else  of  interest  and  import- 
ance connected  with  New  Jersey,  it  hardly  receives 
a  passing  notice  on  the  page  of  American  history. 
The  truth  is,  Massachusetts  and  Virginia  seem  to 
have  monopolized,  in  a  great  measure,  all  the  glory 
of  the  Revolution. 

On  the  twentieth  of  September,  the  day  after 
this  meeting.  Chief  Justice  Smyth  desired  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Bar  to  attend  him  in  a  body,  that  he 
might  lay  before  them  some  matters  for  their  con- 
sideration. A  report  had  been  in  circulation,  that 
he  had  solicited  the  appointment  of  distributor  of 
stamps.  This  he  denied  upon  his  honor.  After 
setting  himself  right  upon  that  point,  he  proceeded 
to  propose  to  them  certain  questions,  to  which  he 
desired  a  separate  answer  from  each. 

The  first  was ; — "  Whether  if  the  stamps  should 


QUESTIONS  OF  CHIEF  JUSTICE  SMYTH.  iQl 

arrive,  and  be  placed  at  the  city  of  Burlington,  by 
or  after  the  first  of  November,  they  w^ould,  as  prac- 
titioners, agree  to  purchase  them  for  their  neces- 
sary legal  proceedings  ?"  To  this  they  answered, 
"  that  they  would  not,  but  rather  suffer  their  pri- 
vate interests  to  give  way  to  the  public  good,  pro- 
testing against  all  riotous  proceedings." 

The  next  question  was ; — "  Whether  in  -their 
opinion,  the  duties  could  possibly  be  paid  in  gold 
and  silver  ?"  They  answered,  "  that  they  could  not 
be  paid  in  gold  and  silver,  even  for  one  year." 

The  last  question  was ; — "  Whether,  as  the  act 
required  the  Governor  and  Chief  Justice  to  super- 
intend the  distribution  of  stamps,  he  would  be 
obliged  to  accept  the  appointment  of  distributor, 
in  case  the  Governor  should  fix  upon  him  for  that 
office  ?"  Their  answer  was,  "  that  the  Governor 
was  not  empowered  by  the  act  to  appoint ;  that  if 
he  was,  it  was  left  to  the  option  of  the  Chief  Jus- 
tice whether  to  accept  or  not ;  and  that  it  would 
be  incompatible  with  his  office  as  Chief  Justice." 

The  Chief  Justice  seems  to  have  been  entirely 
satisfied  with  these  answers,  and  to  have  acted 
upon  the  advice  thus  given  him.  In  fact,  before 
the  arrival  of  the  day  on  which  the  act  was  to  take 
effect,  every  distributor  of  stamps  in  America  had 
resigned.  The  effect  of  these  proceedings  was  to 
11 


162  ANOTHER  MEETING  OF  THE  BAR. 

produce  a  complete  cessation  of  all  legal  business. 
The  stamps  arrived,  but  no  one  would  purchase 
them.     The  Courts  of  justice  were  shut  up. 

But  this  state  of  things  could  not  last  long. 
The  people  were  becoming  impatient  of  its  continu- 
ance, and  tired  of  mere  passive  resistance.  Asso- 
ciations had  sprung  up  in  nearly  all  the  Colonies, 
under  the  title  of  "  The  Sons  of  Liberty,"  who  were 
in  favor  of  setting  the  provisions  of  the  act  at  open 
defiance.  Efforts  were  made  to  induce  the  lawyers 
of  New  Jersey  to  transact  business  without  the  use 
of  stamps.  Another  meeting  of  the  Bar  was  pro- 
posed. Heretofore,  all  had  been  done  in  perfect 
harmony.  There  had  not  been  a  single  dissenting 
voice.  But  now,  the  line  began  for  the  first  time  to 
be  drawn,  between  those  who  thought  they  had 
gone  far  enough,  and  those  who  were  willing  to  go 
farther.  We  have  a  letter  from  David  Ogden,  to 
Philip  Kearney,  in  which  he  declares  himself  op- 
posed to  another  meeting  of  the  Bar,  and  expresses 
the  hope,  that  they  would  continue  to  pursue  the 
peaceful  method  they  had  adopted,  until  the  Stamp 
Act  was  repealed. 

The  meeting,  nevertheless,  took  place.  It  was 
held  at  New  Brunswick,  on  the  thirteenth  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1766.  The  Sons  of  Liberty,  to  the  number 
of  several  hundred,  took  care  to  be  present  at  the 


RESOLUTIONS  ADOPTED  BY  THE  BAR.  153 

same  time,  and  united  in  a  written  request  to  the 
members  of  the  Bar,  urging  them  to  proceed  to  bu- 
siness as  usual  without  stamps,  and  to  use  their  in- 
fluence to  have  the  Courts  of  justice  opened.  The 
meeting,  while  they  agreed  to  preserve  that  happy 
state  of  peace  and  tranquillity  which  had  thus  far 
been  maintained  in  the  Province,  at  the  same  time 
resolved,  that  if  the  Stamp  Act  was  not  repealed 
by  the  first  day  of  April  following,  they  would  re- 
sume their  practice  as  usual ;  and  they  appointed  a 
Committee  of  two,  to  wait  upon  the  Sons  of  Li- 
berty, and  assure  them,  that  if  the  act  was  not  sus- 
pended or  repealed,  they  would  join  them  in  oppos- 
ing it  with  their  lives  and  fortunes. 

These  were  bold  and  spirited  resolutions.  Even 
in  Massachusetts — generally  in  advance  of  the  other 
Colonies — the  most  patriotic  of  the  lawyers  deem- 
ed it  impossible  to  conduct  judicial  business,  in 
open  disregard  of  an  act  of  Parliament,  however 
unjust  and  tyrannical  it  might  be ;  and  nothing  but 
a  resolution  of  the  Assembly  emboldened  them  to 
venture  upon  such  a  step.^  And  in  Philadelphia, 
at  a  numerous  meeting  of  the  members  of  the  Bar, 
held  a  short  time  before  the  Stamp  Act  was  to  go 
into  operation,  upon  the  question  being  submitted, 

1  Grahame's  Col.  Hist.,  II.  405. 


164  COMPLAINTS  AGAINST  LAWYERS. 

whether  they  should  intermit  all  business,  or  carry 
it  on  without  stamps  and  set  the  act  at  defiance, 
only  three  individuals  were  found,  who  were  will- 
ing to  risk  the  consequences  of  going  on  without 
stamps.  John  Dickinson  strenuously  opposed  the 
adoption  of  the  measure,  upon  the  ground,  that  the 
Colonies  were  bound  by  all  acts  of  Parliament.^ 
Before  the  arrival  of  the  day,  however,  named  in 
the  resolutions  of  the  Bar  of  New  Jersey,  the 
Stamp  Act  was  repealed,  and  all  further  proceed- 
ings upon  their  part  became  unnecessary. 

In  1769  and  70,  and  while  Chief  Justice  Smyth 
was  on  the  Bench,  the  most  serious  complaints 
were  made  against  the  lawyers  of  New  Jersey,  fol- 
lowed, I  regret  to  say,  in  some  instances,  by  tu- 
mults and  riots  of  the  most  disgraceful  character. 
For  many  years,  complaints  had  been  made,  from 
time  to  time,  of  the  abuses  practised  by  attorneys, 
of  the  multitude  of  lawsuits,  and  the  expenses  of 
judicial  proceedings.  During  Governor  Morris's 
administration,  repeated  efforts  were  made  by  the 
Assembly  to  correct  these  evils,  so  far  as  they  were 
thought  to  have  any  real  existence ;  but  the  mea- 
sures which  they  adopted  for  that  purpose,  were 
not  so  fortunate  as  to  meet  with  the  approbation 

*  Sanderson's    Biography    of    the     Signers,  II.  312. 


COMPLAINTS  AGAINST  LAWYERS.  165 

of  the  Governor  and  Council.  In  Governor  Frank- 
lin's time,  these  complaints  grew  louder,  and  be- 
came more  frequent,  until,  in  1769,  so  many  memo- 
rials were  presented  to  the  Assembly  upon  the  sub- 
ject, and  in  language  so  strong,  as  to  indicate  a 
very  wide-spread  excitement.  A  pecuniary  crisis 
had  arrived  in  the  Colony,  not  unhke  one  of  those 
periods  of  financial  embarrassment,  through  which 
we  have  since  occasionally  passed.  Money  was 
scarce,  prices  were  low,  business  in  all  its  branches 
depressed,  and  property  of  all  kinds  greatly  depre- 
ciated. Creditors  grew  clamorous,  debtors  were 
unable  to  pay,  prosecutions  were  set  on  foot,  and 
judgments  and  executions  followed  as  of  course. 
The  people — as  is  not  unusual  in  such  cases — 
looking  round  for  the  causes  of  their  sufferings,  and 
not  taking  the  trouble  to  search  very  far  for  them — 
ascribed  them  all  to  the  lawyers.  It  never  seems 
to  have  occurred  to  them,  that  the  multiplicity  of 
lawsuits — which  was  the  principal  topic  of  com- 
plaint— might  have  been  the  effect,  rather  than  the 
cause,  of  the  universal  decay  of  trade,  and  the  en- 
tire prostration  of  the  business  of  the  country. 

However,  the  excitement  was  not  the  less  vio- 
lent, because  it  was  unreasonable.  The  table  of  the 
Assembly  groaned  beneath  the  weight  of  petitions 
which  were  daily  presented,  praying  for  relief,  and 


]QQ  COMPLAINTS  AGAINST  LAWYERS. 

invoking  vengeance  on  the  heads  of  the  attorneys. 
It  was  almost  impossible  for  the  House  not  to 
catch  the  contagion.  Individual  members  of  the 
profession  were  pointed  out  by  name,  and  charges 
preferred  against  them.  Among  others,  Mr.  Ber- 
nardus  Legrange  was  accused  of  having  taken  ex- 
orbitant fees  in  certain  suits  brought  by  him,  and 
was  ordered  to  answer  at  the  bar  of  the  House. 
He  appeared,  and  delivered  a  written  defence,  and 
offered  in  evidence  a  number  of  affidavits.  But 
the  Assembly — not  unwilling  perhaps  to  find  a  vic- 
tim, with  which  to  appease  the  popular  fury — re- 
solved, that  the  charges  had  been  sustained,  and 
ordered  their  Speaker  to  reprimand  him  at  the  bar 
of  the  House — which  was  accordingly  done.  The 
ground  upon  which  he  appears  to  have  been  con- 
victed was,  that  the  Chief  Justice,  and  his  associ- 
ate on  the  Bench,  had  certified  to  the  House,  that 
the  fees  complained  of  were  unnecessary  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  suits,  and  not  warranted  by  law. 
But  it  turned  out  that  the  Judges  had  been  entirely 
mistaken,  and  Mr.  Lagrange  had  the  satisfaction,  a 
short  time  afterwards,  of  laying  before  the  Assem- 
bly, certificates  of  the  Chief  Justice,  and  his  asso- 
ciate, Charles  Read,  stating,  that  upon  further  ex- 
amination, they  had  found  the  bills  of  costs  in  ques- 
tion fully  warranted  by  the  practice  of  the  oldest 


COMPLAINTS  AGAINST  LAWYERS.  157 

and  most  respectable  practitioners  in  the  Province, 
and  that  in  fact  they  were  lower  than  were  gene- 
rally taxed  in  like  cases.  These  certificates  the 
House  ordered  to  be  entered  on  their  minutes,  and 
thus  Mr.  Lagrange  stood  wholly  exonerated. 

Similar  charges  were  made  against  Samuel  Al- 
linson;  but  he  also  produced  certificates — signed 
by  the  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  three  of 
the  most  distinguished  members  of  the  Bar,  Rich- 
ard Stockton,  James  Kinsey,  and  John  Lawrence,^ 
setting  forth,  that  they  had  carefully  inspected  the 
bills  of  costs  complained  of,  and  found  them  to  be 
in  every  particular  correct.  With  these  the  House 
were  satisfied,  and  he  was  accordingly  acquitted. 

But  the  members  of  the  New  Jersey  Bar — jeal- 
ous as  they  have  always  been  of  their  honor — were 
not  disposed  to  sit  down  quietly,  while  the  whole 
Province  was  ringing  with  the  most  exaggerated 
charges  against  them.  A  memorial  was  therefore 
presented  to  the  House,  by  James  Kinsey  and 
Samuel  Allinson,  on  behalf  of  themselves  and  others, 
practitioners  of  law  in  the  Province,  referring  to 
the  petitions  presented  and  the  accusations  made 
against  them,  and  praying  leave  to  be  heard  before 
the  House,  not  only  to  answer  the  charges  of  the 

'  John    Lawrence  resided    in    the     of  the  gallant  Captain  James  Law- 
city  of  Burlington,  and  was  the  father     rence  of  the  navy. 


168  JOSEPH  REED. 

petitioners,  but  also  to  sliQw  whence  the  oppres- 
sions of  the  people  really  proceeded.  The  House 
readily  acceded  to  the  prayer  of  the  memorialists, 
and  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  October,  1769,  James 
Kinsey  and  Samuel  Allinson  appeared  at  the  bar  of 
the  Assembly,  to  plead  the  cause  of  the  lawyers  of 
New  Jersey.  Nor  did  they  stand  alone  ;  but  asso- 
ciated with  them  was  one,  who  although  not  of 
many  years  standing  at  the  Bar,  had  already  reach- 
ed the  foremost  rank  in  his  profession  ;  and  whose 
subsequent  career  in  another  field  of  action  was  so 
full  of  honor  and  glory.  I  allude  to  Joseph  Reed, 
a  native  of  New  Jersey,  and  then  a  lawyer  in  full 
practice  at  Trenton ;  but  who  afterwards  became 
Adjutant  General  of  the  continental  army,  a  mem- 
ber of  Congress,  and  President  of  the  Executive 
Council  of  Pennsylvania ;  the  man,  who  when  of- 
fered the  sum  of  ten  thousand  pounds  sterling,  and 
the  best  office  in  the  gift  of  the  crown  in  America, 
if  he  would  bring  about  a  reunion  between  the  two 
countries,  made  that  memorable  reply  which  has 
immortalized  him  ; — /  am  not  worth  purchasing,  hut 
such  as  I  am,  the  King  of  Great  Britain  is  ?iot  rich 
enough  to  buy  me}     No  report  of  their  argument 

'  Joseph  Reed  was  born  at  Trenton  New  Jersey,  in  1757.  He  read  law  un- 

on  the  27th  of  August,  1741.    He  was  der  the  care  of  Richard  Stockton,  and 

educated  at  Princeton,  where  he  took  was  admitted  to  practise  in  the  Courts 

his  Bachelor's  degree  in  the  College  of  of  New  Jersey  in  May,  1763.     He 


SAMUEL  TUCKER.  169 

has  been  preserved,  but  from  the  character  of  the 
advocates,  we  may  well  presume  that  it  was  an  ef- 
fort worthy  of  the  occasion,  and  that  they  triumph- 
antly vindicated  the  profession  from  the  aspersions 
which  had  been  cast  upon  it. 

There  was  one  member  of  the  Assembly,  who 
seems  to  have  taken  a  very  active  part  in  foment- 
ing the  complaints  against  the  lawyers.  This  was 
Samuel  Tucker,  who  in  1776,  although  President 
of  the  Convention  which  framed  the  Constitution 
of  the  State,  and  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of 
Safety,  yet  took  a  protection  from  the  British,  and 
renounced  allegiance  to  his  country.  Now  it  so 
happened,  that  Samuel  Tucker  had  been  Sheriff  of 
the  county  of  Hunterdon ;  and  as  he  was  so  ready 
to  charge  the  attorneys  with  having  taken  illegal 
fees,  they  had  the  curiosity  to  look  into  some  of 
his  bills  as  Sheriff,  to  ascertain  how  far  he  had  a 
right  to  stand  up  as  the  accuser  of  others.  The  re- 
sult of  their  researches  was,  the  discovery,  that  Mr. 
Tucker,  while  Sheriff,  had  upon  several  occasions, 

then  went  to    England,   to   complete  return  removed  to  I'hiladclpliia.     His 

his    professional    education,    and    re-  subsequent    career    is    known   to  all. 

mained  a  student  in  the  Middle  Tern-  He  died  in  1783.     His  Life  and  Cor- 

ple   for  two  years.     In   1765,  he   re-  respondence,  by  his   grandson,  Wil- 

turned   to  America,  and   commenced  liam    B.  Reed,   of  Philadelphia,  pub- 

the  practice  of  the  law  in  his  native  lished  in  1847,  is  one  of  the  most  val- 

place.     He  pursued  his  profession  in  uable    contributions  which   has  been 

New    Jersey    until    1770,   when    he  made  to  our  Revolutionary  history. 
again  went  to  England,  and  upon  his 


170  SAMUEL  TUCKER. 

charged  the  most  exorbitant  fees,  without  the 
sHghtest  color  of  law.  The  matter  was  at  once 
brought  before  the  Assembly,  and  Mr.  Tucker  was 
now  arraigned  as  the  criminal.  A  memorial,  charg- 
ing him  with  these  illegal  exactions,  was  presented 
to  the  House,  signed  by  James  Kinsey,  Samuel  Al- 
linson,  and  John  Lawrence,  in  which  they  declare, 
that  the  execution  fees  demanded  by  Sheriffs  were 
the  most  grievous  oppression  under  which  the  peo- 
ple labored — that  while  attorneys  were  obliged  to 
have  their  bills  of  costs  taxed  by  the  Court,  and 
filed  with  the  Clerk,  the  Sheriffs  were  under  no 
such  obligation — and  that  these  execution  fees  be- 
ing frequently  confounded  with  the  costs  of  the 
suit,  the  lawyer  was  loaded  with  the  whole  censure. 
The  House  spent  much  time  in  the  investiga- 
tion of  these  charges ;  and  Mr.  Tucker,  being  a 
member  of  that  body,  had  of  course  every  oppor- 
tunity of  defending  himself,  and  was  not  likely  to 
be  convicted  without  very  clear  proof  of  his  guilt. 
But  the  result  was,  the  adoption  by  a  large  majo- 
rity of  the  following  resolution : — "  That  it  is  the 
opinion  of  this  House,  that  the  said  Samuel  Tucker 
has  taken  excessive  and  illegal  fees,  not  warranted 
by  the  laws  of  the  Province,  and  that  the  same  are 
oppressive,  and  a  very  great  grievance."  After 
this,  I  presume,  Mr.  Tucker  let  the  attorneys  alone. 


RIOTS  IN  MONMOUTH  AND  ESSEX.  171 

But  the  spirit  of  hostility  to  the  lawyers,  did 
not  vent  itself  merely  in  petitions  to  the  Assembly. 
It  proceeded  in  some  instances  to  open  violence. 
In  July,  1769,  a  multitude  of  persons  assembled  in 
a  riotous  manner  at  Freehold,  in  the  county  of 
Monmouth,  and  endeavored  to  prevent  the  lawyers 
from  entering  the  Court  House,  and  transacting  bu- 
siness. But  the  tumult  was  at  this  time  quelled, 
owing  in  a  great  measure  to  the  spirited  exertions 
of  Richard  Stockton.  "  While  all  men  were  di- 
vided betwixt  rash  or  timid  counsels,  he  only  with 
wisdom  and  firmness  seized  the  prudent  mean,  ap- 
peased the  rioters,  punished  the  ringleaders,  and 
restored  the  laws  to  their  regular  course."^  But 
at  the  Term  of  January,  1760,  a  more  successful 
effort  was  made.  On  the  day  appointed  for  hold- 
ing the  County  Court,  a  large  number  of  people 
came  together,  armed  with  clubs  and  other  of- 
fensive weapons,  and  by  their  violence  and  threats, 
drove  the  attorneys  from  the  bar,  and  set  the  laws 
at  defiance.  Riots  of  a  similar  nature  occurred 
about  the  same  time  in  the  county  of  Essex,  and 
among  other  outrages  perpetrated,  was  the  setting 
fire  to  the  stables  and  out-houses  of  David  Ogden. 

A  special  Commission  was  at  once  issued  for 

'  Dr.  Smith's  Funeral  Discourse  upon  Mr.  Stockton,  p.  40. 


172         GOV.  FRANKLIN  CONVENES  THE  ASSEMBLY. 

the  trial  of  the  offenders,  and  to  give  weight  and 
dignity  to  it,  a  number  of  gentlemen  of  rank  and 
character  were  associated  with  the  Justices  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  In  Essex  the  rioters  were  prompt- 
ly punished;  but  in  Monmouth,  where  the  disaf- 
fection was  more  general,  they  were  screened  from 
chastisement  by  the  sympathy  of  their  fellow- 
citizens. 

A  meeting  of  the  Legislature  was  also  called, 
for  the  purpose  of  reviving  and  continuing  process 
in  the  Courts  of  the  county  of  Monmouth,  and 
adopting  such  measures  as  might  be  necessary,  to 
vindicate  the  majesty  of  the  law,  and  support  the 
authority  of  government.  Governor  Franklin  sent 
a  message  to  the  Assembly,  recommending  the 
passage  of  a  number  of  laws,  which  he  thought  the 
exigencies  of  the  occasion  required;  and  telling 
them  very  plainly,  that  in  his  opinion,  this  cry 
against  lawyers  was  raised  only  for  the  purposes  of 
deception,  and  that  the  unwillingness  of  some  to 
pay  their  just  debts,  and  the  inability  of  others, 
were  the  true  causes  of  all  the  difficulties  that  had 
arisen.  The  House  in  reply  assured  the  Governor, 
that  they  would  ever  discountenance  such  riotous 
proceedings,  and  would  heartily  join  in  such  mea- 
sures, as  were  necessary  to  bring  the  offenders  to 
condign  punishment;  and  they  declared,  that  the 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  SMYTH.  I73 

best  remedy  against  any  abuses  from  the  practition- 
ers of  the  law,  was  one,  which  the  people  had  in 
their  own  hands,  namely,  a  patriotic  spirit  of  fru- 
gality and  ijidustry,  and  an  honest  care  to  fulfill  con- 
tracts. 

It  might  be  worth  while  to  inquire,  whether 
those  who  thus  made  war  upon  the  lawyers,  were 
equally  ready  to  take  up  arms  against  the  enemies 
of  their  country,  in  the  contest  which  soon  follow- 
ed. We  know  there  were  a  good  many  Tories  in 
the  county  of  Monmouth,  as  well  as  in  other  parts 
of  the  State ;  and  if  the  truth  were  known,  I  sus- 
pect it  would  be  found,  that  among  those  who  took 
sides  with  the  British,  were  included  most  of  the 
individuals  who  were  engaged  in  these  riotous  pro- 
ceedings. Nor  is  this  mere  conjecture.  The  same 
thing  happened  precisely  in  North  Carolina,  where 
in  1771,  a  body  of  men,  to  the  number  of  about 
fifteen  hundred,  calling  themselves  "  Regulators," 
and  complaining  of  the  oppressions  attending  the 
practice  of  the  law,  rose  in  arms,  for  the  purpose 
of  exterminating  lawyers,  and  shutting  up  the 
Courts  of  justice.  And  yet  most  of  these  very  per- 
sons, in  the  Revolution,  joined  the  royal  party,  and 
enlisted  under  the  King's  banner.^     Nor  should  this 

'  Grahame's    Col.    Hist.,  II.  466.     Sabine's  American  Loyalists,  26. 


174  CHIEF  JUSTICE  SMYTH. 

surprise  us.  The  freedom  for  which  our  fathers 
contended,  was  not  an  unHcensed  freedom,  but  a 
liberty  regulated  by  law. 

In  1772,  Chief  Justice  Smyth  was  appointed 
one  of  the  Commisioners  to  examine  into  the  af- 
fair of  the  burning  of  the  British  Schooner  Gaspee, 
by  a  party  of  Rhode  Island  Whigs.  Wanton,  the 
Governor  of  Rhode  Island,  Horsmanden,  Chief 
Justice  of  New  York,  Oliver,  Chief  Justice  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  Auchmuty,  Judge  of  Admiralty, 
were  associated  with  him  in  the  Commission. 
They  began  their  sitting  at  Newport,  on  the  fifth 
of  January,  1773,  and  continued  in  session  until  the 
twenty-fourth  of  June.  But  although  the  most 
diligent  and  searching  inquiries  were  made,  and 
large  rewards  offered  for  the  discovery  of  the  of- 
fenders, not  a  particle  of  evidence  could  be  pro- 
cured against  a  single  individual.^  This  is  the 
"  Court"  alluded  to,  in  the  address  of  the  first  Con- 
gress, to  the  inhabitants  of  the  Colonies,  where  it 
is  said,  "  A  Court  has  been  established  at  Rhode 
Island,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  colonists  to  Eng- 
land to  be  tried."  It  was  a  Court  of  Inquiry  only ; 
and  if  any  delinquents  had  been  detected,  they 
were  to  have  been  sent  to  England  for  trial.^ 

'  Grahame's  Col.    Hist.,   II.   467.         '  Griffith's    Historical    Notes,    p. 
Gordon.    Holmes.  2(11. 


CHARGE  TO  THE  GRAND  JURY  OF  ESSEX.  175 

The  time  had  now  arrived,  when  it  became  ne- 
cessary for  every  man  to  decide  upon  the  part 
which  he  would  take  in  the  approaching  contest. 
It  is  due  to  Chief  Justice  Smyth  to  say,  that  he 
never  seems  for  one  moment  to  have  faltered  in  his 
course.  He  was  throughout,  a  firm  and  consistent 
loyalist.  Nor  was  he  at  any  pains  to  conceal  his 
sentiments.  Thus,  in  a  charge  to  the  Grand  Jury 
of  the  county  of  Essex,  at  the  Term  of  November, 
1774,  he  alluded  to  the  troubled  state  of  the  times, 
and  among  other  things  observed,  "  that  the  imagi- 
nary tyranny  three  thousand  miles  distant,"  was 
less  to  be  feared  and  guarded  against,  than  the 
"  real  tyranny  at  our  own  doors."  This  was  bold 
language  to  be  uttered,  at  such  a  time,  and  in  such 
a  place ;  and  it  drew  from  the  Grand  Jury  a  reply, 
so  spirited  and  patriotic,  that  it  deserves  a  conspic- 
uous place  among  the  memorials  of  our  Revolu-  V 
tionary  history. 

After  expressing  their  obligations  to  the  Chief 
Justice  for  his  "  friendly  admonitions,"  and  the 
"  paternal  tenderness"  he  had  evinced  for  their  wel- 
fare, they  proceed  to  say : — "  But  respecting  the 
tyranny  at  the  distance  of  three  thousand  miles,  which 
your  Honor  is  pleased  to  represent  as  imaginary, 
we  have  the  unhappiness  widely  to  differ  from  you 
in  opinion.     The  effect,  Sir,  of  that  tyranny  is  too 


176  REPLY  OF  THE  GRAND  JURY  OF  ESSEX. 

severely  felt,  to  have  it  thought  altogether  vision- 
ary. We  cannot  think,  Sir,  that  taxes  imposed 
upon  us  by  our  fellow  subjects,  in  a  Legislature  in 
which  we  are  not  represented,  is  an  imaginary,  but 
that  it  is  a  real  and  actual  tyranny ;  and  of  which 
no  nation  whatsoever  can  furnish  a  single  instance. 
We  cannot  think,  Sir,  that  depriving  us  of  the  in- 
estimable right  of  trial  by  jury;  seizing  our  per- 
sons, and  carrying  us  for  trial  to  Great  Britain, 
is  a  tyranny  merely  imaginary.  Nor  can  we  think 
with  your  Honor,  that  destroying  Charters,  and 
changing  our  forms  of  Government,  is  a  tyranny 
altogether  ideal : — That  an  Act  passed  to  protect, 
indemnify,  and  screen  from  punishment,  such  as 
may  be  guilty  even  of  murder,  is  a  bare  idea ; — 
That  the  establishment  of  French  Laws  and  Popish 
religion  in  Canada,  the  better  to  facilitate  the  arbi- 
trary schemes  of  the  British  Ministry,  by  making 
the  Canadians  instruments  in  the  hands  of  power 
to  reduce  us  to  slavery,  has  no  other  than  a  mental 
existence.  In  a  word.  Sir,  we  cannot  persuade  our- 
selves, that  the  Fleet  now  blocking  up  the  port  of 
Boston,  consisting  of  ships  built  of  real  English 
oak,  and  solid  iron,  £ftid  armed  with  cannon  of  pon- 
derous metal,  with  actual  powder  and  ball ;  nor  the 
Army  lodged  in  the  Town  of  Boston,  and  the  forti- 
fications thrown  about  it, — substantial  and  formida- 


REPLY  OF  THE  GRAND  JURY  OF  ESSEX.  177 

ble  realities, — are  all  creatures  of  the  imagination. 
These,  Sir,  are  but  a  few  of  the  numerous  grievan- 
ces under  which  America  now  groans.  These  are 
some  of  the  effects  of  that  deliberate  plan  of  tyran- 
ny, concerted  at  '  three  thousand  miles  distance,' 
and  which,  to  your  Honor,  appears  only  like  the 
'  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision.'  To  procure  redress 
of  these  grievances,  which  to  others  assume  the 
form  of  odious  and  horrid  realities,  the  Continent, 
as  we  learn,  has  very  naturally  been  thrown  into 
great  commotions ;  and  as  far  as  this  County  in  par- 
ticular has  taken  part  in  the  alarm,  we  have  the 
happiness  to  represent  to  your  Honor,  that  in  the 
prosecution  of  measures  for  preserving  American 
liberties,  and  obtaining  the  removal  of  oppressions, 
the  people  have  acted  in  all  their  popular  assem- 
blies (which  it  is  the  right  of  Englishmen  to  con- 
vene whenever  they  please)  with  the  spirit,  temper, 
and  prudence,  becoming  freemen  and  loyal  sub- 
jects." 

And  they  conclude,  by  expressing  their  hearty 
wishes,  that  while  the  great  cause  of  liberty  was  so 
warmly,  and  at  the  same  time  so  peaceably  vindi- 
cated by  all  honest  Americans,  no.  bias  of  self- 
interest,  no  fawning  servility  to  those  in  power,  no 
hopes  of  future  preferment,  would  induce  any  man 
to  lend  his  helping  hand  to  the  unnatural  and  dia- 
12 


178 


DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  TEA. 


bolical  work,  of  riveting  those  chains  which  were 
forffino-  for  them,  at  the  distance  of  three  thousand 
miles}  How  this  keen  rebuke  was  received  by  the 
Chief  Justice,  we  are  not  informed. 

The  destruction  of  the  tea  in  Boston  is  famihar 
to  all.  It  is  not  so  generally  known,  that  we  had 
in  New  Jersey  a  little  affair  of  our  own  of  the  same 
kind.  The  captains  of  the  tea  ships  destined  for 
Philadelphia,  did  not  deem  it  safe  to  land  their  car- 
goes there,  and  most  of  them  returned  to  England. 
.  One  however,  in  the  brig  Greyhound,  ventured  up 
the  Cohansey,  and  discharged  at  Greenwich,  a  quiet 
little  village  in  the  County  of  Cumberland,  where  a 
popular  outbreak  was  never  dreamed  of  The 
tea  was  landed  without  resistance,  and  deposited  in 
the  cellar  of  a  house  fronting  the  market-place. 
But  on  the  twenty-second  of  November,  1774,  about 
forty  men  assembled  in  the  dusk  of  the  evening,  de- 
liberately took  possession  of  the  tea,  removed  the 
chests  from  the  cellar,  piled  them  up  in  an  adjoin- 
ing field,  and  made  a  bonfire  of  them.^ 

We  are  indebted  to  one  of  our  venerable  Vice 
Presidents,  Col.  Robert  G.  Johnson,  for  the  names 
of  many  of  these  ardent  and  resolute  patriots.    One 

*  A  copy  of  this  address  will  be        -  Johnson's  History  of  Salem,  p. 
found  in  Clarke  and  Force's  Ameri-     123. 
can  Archives.     Fourth  series,  vol.  i. 
p.  967. 


SUITS  FOR  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  TEA.      179 

of  them  was  the  late  Ebenezer  Elmer,  father  of  the 
Hon.  Lucius  Q.  C.  Elmer,  of  Bridgeton ;  another 
was  Richard  Howell,  afterwards  Governor  of  the 
State ;  a  third  was  James  Ewing,  father  of  the  dis- 
tinguished Chief  Justice  of  New  Jersey  ;  and  a 
fourth  was  the  Rev.  Andrew  Hunter,'  a  man  as  dis- 
tinguished for  his  piety  as  his  patriotism,  and  who 
was  a  chaplain  in  the  American  army,  during  the 
whole  of  the  Revolutionary  war.  His  second  wife 
was  the  daughter  of  Richard  Stockton,  the  signer 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  ;  and  one  of  his 
sons  became  Attorney  General  of  the  State. 

Suits  were  brought  in  the  Supreme  Court,  by 
the  owners  of  the  tea,  for  the  recovery  of  damages, 
against  those  who  had  been  concerned  in  the  de- 
struction of  it ;  but  the  Whigs  of  the  County  held 
a  meeting,  and  resolved  that  funds  should  be  raised 
for  the  purpose  of  defending  the  actions.  Joseph 
Reed,  and  Charles  Pettit,  of  Philadelphia,  were  em- 
ployed by  the  owners  of  the  tea ;  and  Joseph  Bloom- 
field,  afterwards  Governor  of  New  Jersey,  Elias 
Boudinot,   of  EHzabethtown,  Jonathan   Dickinson 

*  His  father,  the  Rev.  Andrew  ergies,  both  in  and  out  of  the  pulpit, 
Hunter,  was  the  beloved  and  vene-  to  awaken  amongst  the  people  a  spirit 
rated  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  of  resistance  to  the  arbitrary  and  op- 
church  of  Greenwich,  in  the  county  pressive  measures  of  the  British  gov- 
of  Cumberland.  He  was  like  his  son,  ernment.  He  died  in  July,  1775. — 
an  ardent  Whig,  and  up  to  the  pe-  Johnson's  History  of  Sc^lem,  p.  91. 
riod  of  his  death,  e.\erted  all  his  en- 


180  SUITS  FOR  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  TEA. 

Sergeant^  of  Princeton,  and  George  Read  of  New- 
castle, were  retained  on  behalf  of  the  Defendants. 
The  suits,  however,  were  never  brought  to  trial. 
The  Plaintiffs  being  non-residents,  a  rule  was  ob- 
tained to  file  security  for  costs,  and  no  further  pro- 
ceedings appear  to  have  been  taken. 

At  the  next  term  of  the  Oyer  and  Terminer,  for 
the  County  of  Cumberland,  Chief  Justice  Smyth 
presided ;  and  it  was  probably  the  last  opportunity 
which  he  had,  of  making  a  display  of  his  loyalty 
from  the  Bench.  He  inveighed  with  much  severity 
against  the  "wanton  waste  of  property,"  and  the 
flagrant  breach  of  the  peace,  which  had  been  com- 
mitted, and  charged  the  Grand  Jury  strongly  upon 

'  Jonathan  Dickinson  Sergeant,  ton  was  burnt  by  the  British  army 
was  born  near  Princeton  in  1746.  in  its  march  through  New  Jersey  in 
He  was  graduated  in  the  College  of  1776.  In  1777,  upon  his  being  in- 
New  Jersey  in  1762.  After  reading  vited  to  accept  the  office  of  Attorney 
law  with  Richard  Stockton,  he  com-  General  of  Pennsylvania,  he  removed 
menced  practice  at  Princeton,  and  to  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  He  died 
pursued  his  profession  there  up  to  the  in  1793,  of  yellow  fever,  to  which  he 
period  of  the  Revolution.  He  was  a  was  exposed  by  his  benevolent  exer- 
member  of  the  Provincial  Congress  of  tions  as  one  of  the  committee  of 
New  Jersey  in  1775,  and  1776,  and  twelve,  who  offered  their  services  to 
took  an  active  part  in  their  proceed-  the  city  during  the  prevalence  of  the 
ings.  He  was  one  of  the  Committee  disease.  He  had  an  active  and  pow- 
that  drafted  the  first  Constitution  of  erful  mind,  and  was  as  distinguished 
New  Jersey.  In  February,  1776,  he  for  his  moral  as  for  his  intellectual 
was  elected  a  delegate  from  New  qualities.  He  was  the  father  of  the 
Jersey  to  the  general  Congress  then  Honorable  John  Sergeant  of  Philadel- 
sitting  in  Philadelphia.  He  took  his  phia  ;  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Mil- 
seat  in  that  body,  but  resigned  it  be-  ler,  of  Princeton,  married  one  of  his 
fore  the  Declaration  of  Independence  daughters, 
was  adopted.     His  house  in  Prince- 


LAWYERS  IN  THE  REVOLUTION.  181 

the  subject.  But  the  Whigs  of  Cumberland  were 
as  inflexible  as  those  of  Essex.  The  Grand  Jury 
came  into  Court,  without  bringing  in  any  bills.  He 
sent  them  out  a  second  time,  but  they  still  refused 
to  find  any  indictments.^ 

But  here  we  must  part  with  Chief  Justice  Smyth. 
When  the  Revolution  broke  out,  he  removed  to 
Philadelphia,  where  he  died.  His  reputation  as  a 
Judge  was  highly  respectable,  but  it  was  eclipsed 
by  that  of  his  more  distinguished  associates  upon 
the  Bench,  of  whom  we  are  now  to  speak. 

In  the  struggle  for  independence,  a  majority  of 
the  lawyers  in  the  Colonies,  were  undoubtedly 
Whigs.  Most  of  the  speakers  and  advocates  on 
the  popular  side  were  members  of  the  Bar ;  and 
one  of  the  objects  of  the  "  Stamp  Act,"  was  to 
drive  from  the  profession  those,  who  were  perpetu- 
ally annoying  the  royal  Governors,  and  who  were 
termed  by  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
"  mere  pettifoggers."  But  still  it  has  been  said, 
that  the  "  giants  of  the  law"  in  the  Colonies,  were 
nearly  all  Loyalists.  This  no  doubt  was  to  some 
extent  true.  In  fact,  the  anti-revolutionary  Bar  of 
Massachusetts  and  New  York,  furnished  the  Courts 
of  New  Brunswick,  Nova  Scotia,  and  Canada,  for 
many  years,  with  their  most  distinguished  Judges.- 

'  Johnson's  History  of  Salem,  p.        *  Sabine's  American  Loyalists,  p. 
125.  52. 


182  DAVID  OGDEN. 

One  of  these  giants  of  the  law  in  New  Jersey, 
was  David  Ogden,  an  associate  Judge  of  the  Su- 
preme Court,  while  Frederick  Smyth  was  Chief  Jus- 
tice. He  was  perhaps  the  first  of  a  race  of  men, 
afterwards  numerous  in  New  Jersey,  and  which  I 
trust  will  never  become  extinct ;  I  mean  thorough- 
bred lawyers, — men,  who  love  their  profession,  who 
devote  themselves  to  it,  who  are  satisfied  with  its 
honors,  and  look  not  beyond  it  for  distinction.  The 
name  of  Ogden  seems  to  belong  in  an  especial  man- 
ner to  the  Bar  of  New  Jersey.  For  the  last 
hundred  and  twenty  years,  never  has  there  been  a 
time,  when  the  profession  has  not  been  graced  by 
at  least  one  eminent  individual  of  that  name. 

David  Ogden  sprung  from  an  ancient  and  re- 
spectable family  that  came  to  New  England  at  an 
early  day,  and  thence  removed  to  Long  Island  and 
New  Jersey.  He  was  a  son  of  Josiah  Ogden, 
who  for  many  years  represented  the  county  of  Es- 
sex in  the  Colonial  Assembly ;  and  a  brother  of 
Dr.  Jacob  Ogden,  a  distinguished  physician,  who 
was  born  and  educated  in  Newark,  but  subse- 
quently settled  in  Jamaica,  Long  Island,  where  he 
died  in  1780.^  David  Ogden  was  born  in  Newark, 
somewhere  about  the  year  1707.     He  completed 

'  For  a  notice  of  Dr.  Jacob  Ogden,  see  Thompson's  History  of  Long  Isl- 
and. I.  275.     Note. 


DAVID  OGDEN.  183 

his  education  at  Yale  College,  where  he  was  gradu- 
ated in  1728 ;  and  after  reading  law  for  some  years 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  he  returned  to  his  native 
State,  to  pursue  his  profession  and  to  become  one 
of  its  brightest  ornaments.  He  was  not  a  man  of 
genius,  in  the  ordinary  acceptation  of  the  term — a 
quality',  by  the  by,  which  is  quite  as  apt  to  mar  as 
to  make  the  fortune  of  a  lawyer — but  of  clear  head, 
of  strong  sense,  and  of  sound  judgment.  And, 
what  was  of  more  importance  still,  he  was  a  most 
dihgent  student,  and  of  untiring  industry  and  appli- 
cation. Up  at  four  in  the  morning,  winter  and 
summer,  he  had  done  a  day's  work,  before  most  of 
his  professional  brethren  were  out  of  their  beds. 
He  rose  therefore  rapidly  in  his  profession ;  soon 
acquired  an  extensive  and  lucrative  practice  ;  and, 
for  many  years,  stood  confessedly  at  the  head  of 
the  Bar  in  New  Jersey.  He  was  frequently  con- 
cerned in  the  trial  of  important  causes  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  where,  if  he  had  any  equal,  he  certainly 
had  no  superior.  But  here,  he  was  for  a  long  time 
without  a  rival.  He  was  looked  up  to  as  an  oracle 
of  the  law,  and  his  opinions  had  almost  the  weight 
of  judicial  decisions. 

In  1772,  he  was  appointed  a  Judge  of  the  Su- 
preme Court ;  and  probably,  no  man  ever  brought 
to  that  station    qualifications  of   a   higher  order. 


184  DAVID  OGDEN. 

Solid  rather  than  brihiant ;  more  distinguished  for 
accuracy  of  judgment  than  fertihty  of  invention,  and 
for  clearness  of  apprehension  than  for  quickness  of 
perception ;  of  deep  learning ;  of  long  practice  ; 
and  of  unsullied  integrity ;  he  seemed  to  combine 
every  property  requisite  for  a  Judge.^  But,  unhap- 
pily for  him,  he  was  not  long  permitted  to  display 
these  qualities.  The  period  vs^as  approaching, 
when  laws  were  to  be  silenced  by  the  din  of  arms, 
and  a  new  scene  was  to  present  itself,  in  which  he 
was  not  so  well  fitted  to  act  a  part.  We  have 
seen,  in  reference  to  the  Stamp  Act,  that  while  he 
was  ready  to  concur  in  all  peaceful  methods  of  re- 
dress, he  was  opposed  to  every  thing  that  looked 
like  forcible  resistance.  Such  continued  to  be  his 
course  until  hostilities  actually  commenced ;  and 
then,  he  bid  adieu  to  the  place  of  his  birth,  to  the 
home  of  his  youth,  to  the  seat  of  his  family,  of  his 
fortune,  of  his  fame.  He  sought  refuge  under  the 
protection  of  the  British,  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
where  he  remained  during  the  war. 

'  "  Judges,"     says     Lord     Bacon,  find  that  which  he  might  have  heard 

"  ought    to   be    more    learned   than  in  due  time  from  the  bar  ;  or  to  show 

witty,  more  reverend  than  plausible,  quickness  of  conceit   in    cutting  off 

and    more    advised    than    confident,  evidence  or  counsel  too  short,  or  to 

Patience  and  gravity  of  hearing  is  an  prevent     information    by    questions, 

essential  part  of  justice  ;  and  an  over-  though  pertinent." — Bacon's   Works. 

speaking  judge  is  no  well-tuned  cym-  I.  53. 
bal.     It  is  no  grace  to  a  judge  first  to 


DAVID  OGDEN.  185 

But  he  was  not  satisfied  with  mere  neutrahty. 
He  was  not  only  a  loyahst,  but  an  active  and  a  de- 
termined one.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Refugees,  estabhshed  at  New  York,  in  1TT9,  com- 
posed of  delegates  from  the  loyalists  of  the  different 
Colonies,  and  of  which  Governor  Franklin  was  at 
one  time  president.^  After  Joseph  Galloway,  the 
celebrated  loyalist  of  Pennsylvania,  retired  to  Eng- 
land, David  Ogden  became  one  of  his  correspond- 
ents, and  his  letters  are  said  to  evince  much  bitter- 
ness of  feeling.  He  drew  up  the  outlines  of  a  plan 
for  the  government  of  the  Colonies,  after  their 
submission  to  Great  Britain,  an  event,  which,  as 
he  expressed  it,  "  was  certain,  and  soon  to  happen, 
if  proper  measures  were  not  neglected."  By  this 
plan  it  was  proposed,  that  the  British  Parliament 
should  formally  renounce  the  right  to  tax  the  Colo- 
nies ;  that  each  Colony  should  have  a  Governor 
and  Council  appointed  by  the  Crown,  and  a  House 
of  Representatives  to  be  elected  by  the  freeholders 

'  It  was  mainly  through  the  agen-  in  a  letter  written  December  5th, 
cy  of  Daniel  Coxe — another  Jersey-  1779.  "The  Deputies  of  the  Re- 
man, and  a  member  of  Council  dur-  fugees  from  the  differont  Provinces 
ing  Governor  Franklin's  administra-  meet  once  a  week.  Daniel  Coxe, 
tion — that  this  Board  of  Refugees  or  Esq.,  was  appointed  to  the  chair,  to 
Loyalists,  was  organized.  He  was  deprive  him  of  the  opportunity  of 
made  President  of  the  Board,  and  the  speaking,  as  he  has  the  gift  of  saying 
reason  for  putting  him  in  the  chair,  is  little  with  many  icords." — Sabine's 
thus  given  by  Christopher  Sower,  an  American  Loyalists,  p.  232. 
influential    loyalist  of  Pennsylvania, 


18(3  DAVID  OGDEN. 

and  residents  of  the  several  counties,  who  were  to 
make  all  necessary  laws  for  the  internal  regulation 
and  government  of  the  respective  Colonies ;  that 
an  American  Parliament  should  be  established  for 
all  the  English  Colonies  on  the  continent,  consist- 
ing of  a  Lord  Lieutenant — Barons,  to  be  created 
for  the  purpose,  and  appointed  by  the  Crown  out 
of  the  freeholders  and  inhabitants    of  the  Colo- 
nies— and  a  House  of  Commons,  to  be  elected  by 
the  respective  Houses  of  Representatives  for  each 
Colony — which  Parliament  was  to  be  styled  the 
Lord  Lieutenant,  the  Lords,  and  Commons,  of  the 
British  Colonies  in  North  America.     This  Ameri- 
can Parliament  was  to  have  the  power  of  enacting 
laws  in  all  cases  whatsoever,  for  the  general  wel- 
fare and  safety  of  the  Colonies,  which  laws  were  to 
be  in  force,  until  repealed  by  his  Majesty  in  Coun- 
cil ;    and  they  were  also  to  apportion  among  the 
several  Colonies,  the  amount  of  taxes  to  be  raised 
by  each.     The  mode  of  raising  them,  was  to  be  left 
to  the  General  Assembly  of  each  Colony,  but  in 
case  of  their  refusal  or  neglect,  the  American  Par- 
Hament  was  to  have  power  to  levy  the  same.     It 
was  also  provided,  that  the  American  Parhament 
should  have  the  superintendence  and  government 
of  the  several  colleges  in  North  America,  "  most  of 
which,"   it   was   alleged,    "  have   been   the   grand 


DAVID  OGDEN.  187 

nurseries  of  the  late  rebellion,  instilling  into  the 
tender  minds  of  youth  principles  favorable  to  re- 
publican, and  against  a  monarchical  Government." 
This  was  a  compliment  to  our  hterary  institutions, 
which  by  no  one  was  more  richly  merited,  than  by 
our  own  College  of  New  Jersey,  of  which  Dr.  With- 
erspoon,  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  was  the  President. 

But  that  event,  that  was  deemed  so  "  certain 
and  soon  to  happen,"  luckily  never  arrived,  and 
this  ingenious  plan,  therefore,  was  of  course  never 
carried  out ;  but  it  is  not  very  difficult  to  imagine, 
who  were  intended  to  be  the  Barons  in  the  several 
Colonies,  that  were  to  compose  our  American 
House  of  Lords. 

After  the  peace,  Mr.  Ogden  went  to  England, 
and  was  agent  for  the  Ncav  Jersey  loyalists  in  pro- 
secuting their  claims  to  remuneration  for  losses 
which  they  had  sustained.  His  own  property, 
which  was  large  and  valuable,  was  confiscated  by 
the  State  of  New  Jersey,  and  he  received  a  com- 
pensation for  it  from  the  British  Government.  He 
remained  in  England  until  1790,  when  he  returned 
to  the  United  States,  where  he  found  in  operation, 
a  better  plan  of  government  than  the  one  which  he 
had  devised.  He  took  up  his  residence  in  Queens 
County,  Long  Island,  where  he  lived  until  his  death. 


Igg  DAVID  OGDEN. 

which  did  not  happen  until  the  year  1800,  when 
he  had  reached  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-three. 
While  he  resided  on  Long  Island,  he  occasionally 
visited  Newark,  where  he  was  always  received 
with  affection  and  respect,  most  of  the  old  inhabit- 
ants waiting  upon  him,  and  welcoming  him. 

He  left  a  number  of  sons,  two  of  which,  Isaac 
and  Abraham,  were  lawyers.  Isaac  was  in  full 
practice  in  Newark  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution, 
and  had  been  Clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court.  He 
followed  the  fortunes  of  his  father,  joined  the  Bri- 
tish in  New  York,  remained  there  during  the  war, 
then  went  to  England,  and  afterwards  settled  in 
Canada,  where  he  was  appointed  a  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  so  continued  until  his  death. 
Abraham  resided  in  Newark,  and  for  many  years 
after  the  Revolution,  was  a  distinguished  member 
of  the  New  Jersey  Bar.  He  was  United  States 
District  Attorney,  under  the  administration  of 
Washington.  As  a  jury  lawyer,  he  is  said  to  have 
been  unrivalled.  He  was  also  a  fine  belles-lettre 
scholar.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature  in 
1790,  and  advocated  with  much  force,  but  without 
success,  the  calhng  of  a  Convention  to  revise  the 
Constitution  of  the  State.^     He  died  suddenly  in 

*  It  was  in  answer  to  a  speech  of  Kitchell,  a  member  from  the  county 
Abraham  Ogden's  in  favor  of  a  revi-  of  Morris,  exclaimed,  "  When  the 
sion  of  the  Constitution,  that  Aaron     fox  preaches  let  the  geese  beware." 


RICHARD  STOCKTON. 


189 


1798,  when  upwards  of  sixty  years  of  age.^  Samuel, 
another  son,  married  a  sister  of  Governeui*  Morris, 
and  was  a  man  of  considerable  distinction.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  of  the  Convention  that  framed  her  Constitution 
of  1790.  He  was  the  father  of  David  B.  Ogden  of 
New  York,  who  after  sustaining  for  some  years  in 
New  Jersey  the  professional  honor  of  his  family 
and  name,  removed  to  a  sister  State,  where  he  has 
long  been  the  pride  and  ornament  of  the  Bar.  To 
him  I  am  indebted  for  many  particulars  in  the  life 
of  his  grandfather. 

The  other  associate  of  Chief  Justice  Smyth 
upon  the  Bench  of  the  Supreme  Court,  at  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Revolution,  was  Richard 
Stockton;  and  with  him,  I  must  close  these  im- 


It  is  to  this,  that  Mr.  Griffith  alludes  Court  at  the  time  of  his  death  ;  and 
in  his  '  Eumenes/  when  he  says : —  Gabriel  H.  Ford,  who  for  so  many 
"  One  of  the  opposers  of  a  Conven-  years  adorned  the  Bench  of  the  Su- 
tion,  introduced  the  fable  of  the  fox  preme  Court  of  New  Jersey,  and  who 
and  geese ;  and  in  a  very  extraordi-  is  still  living  in  the  full  enjoyment  of 
nary  strain  of  compliment,  represent-  all  his  faculties.  About  the  same 
ed  an  advocate  for  a  Convention  in  time,  there  were  in  the  office  of  Bli- 
the character  of  the  fox,  and  the  ho-  slia  Boudiuot  of  Newark,  Richard 
norahle  auditory  as  ti  flock  of  geese."  Stockton,  William  Griffith,  and  Alex- 
— Griffith's  Eumenes,  p.  15,  n.  b.  ander  C.  McWhorter,  all  of  whom, 
'  Among  the  students  in  the  office  I  need  scarcely  say,  became  eminent 
of  Abraham  Ogden,  were  Josiah  Og-  in  their  profession.  They  formed  the 
den  Hoffinan,  who  became  Attorney  "  Institutio  Legalis"  of  Newark,  a 
General  of  the  State  of  New  York,  sort  of  Moot  Court,  which  was  kept 
and   was  a   Judge  of   the   Superior  up  for  many  years. 


190  RICHARD  STOCKTON. 

perfect  sketches,  already,  perhaps,  too  far  ex- 
tended. 

Richard  Stockton  was  born  at  Princeton,  on 
the  first  day  of  October,  1730.  His  ancestors, 
who  came  from  England  at  an  early  day,  were  the 
first  settlers  in  this  part  of  the  State ;  his  great- 
grandfather having  purchased  of  William  Penn  a 
tract  of  land,  containing  between  five  and  six  thou- 
sand acres,  extending  from  the  Province  line,  about 
two  miles  south  of  Princeton,  to  the  Millstone  River, 
near  where  the  village  of  Kingston  now  stands.  A 
portion  of  this  property  has  remained  in  the  family 
to  the  present  day.  His  father,  John  Stockton,  was 
a  gentleman  of  fortune,  and  of  high  character,  a 
liberal  friend  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  and  for 
many  years  the  presiding  Judge  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  of  the  county  of  Somerset.  He 
died  in  1757. 

Richard  being  the  eldest  son,  great  pains  were 
bestowed  upon  his  education.  After  receiving  such 
instruction  as  his  native  village — always  famous 
for  its  schools — could  afford,  he  was  sent  to  an 
academy  at  Nottingham,  in  Maryland,  which  had 
just  been  established  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Finley, 
afterwards  President  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey. 
Dr.  Finley  was  a  ripe  scholar,  and  a  skillful  teach- 
er, and  his  school  became  a  very  celebrated  one. 


RICHARD  STOCKTON.  191 

Some  of  the  most  distinguished  men  in  our  country 
were  educated  here.  It  could  boast  of  having  in 
it,  at  one  time,  a  cluster  of  pupils,  all  of  whom  be- 
came eminent  in  their  several  departments.  Among 
these,  were  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush  of  Philadelphia, 
and  his  brother  Judge  Bush;  the  Rev.  James 
Waddell  of  Virginia,  of  whose  eloquence  so  vivid 
a  description  is  given  by  Wirt,  in  his  British  Spy ; 
the  Rev.  Alexander  McWhorter  of  Newark,  for 
many  years,  a  distinguished  supporter  of  literature 
and  religion  in  the  American  church ;  Ebenezer 
Hazard  of  Philadelphia,  Postmaster  General  of  the 
United  States  in  1782,  and  author  of  a  valuable 
work  in  reference  to  American  history,  entitled, 
Historical  Collections ;  Alexander  Martin,  Gov- 
ernor of  North  Carolina,  and  a  delegate  to  the  Con- 
vention which  framed  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States ;  John  Henry,  a  member  of  Congress  dur- 
ing the  Revolution,  a  Senator  of  the  United  States, 
and  Governor  of  Maryland ;  and  Colonel  John 
Bayard,  an  eminent  Christian  and  patriot,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  old  Congress,  and  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  of  Pennsylvania. 

Mr.  Stockton  remained  under  the  care  of  Dr. 
Finley  about  two  years,  and  was  then  sent  to  the 
College  of  New  Jersey,  and  received  the  honors  of 
its  first  annual  commencement  at  Newark,  just  a 


192  RICHARD  STOCKTON. 

hundred  years  ago.  He  read  law  under  the  direc- 
tion of  David  Ogden  of  Newark,  whose  reputation 
attracted  to  his  office  students  from  all  parts  of 
the  Province.  He  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  in  the 
Term  of  August,  1754,  and  at  once  entered  upon 
the  duties  of  his  profession  at  Princeton.  His  fine 
natural  powers  had  been  highly  cultivated  and  im- 
proved by  study  and  discipline,  and  his  success 
was  rapid  and  brilliant.  His  practice  soon  became 
coextensive  with  the  Province,  and  he  was  often 
invited  to  conduct  causes  in  the  neighboring  Colo- 
nies. Although  as  a  lawyer,  he  might  still  have 
been  willing  to  acknowledge  David  Ogden  as  his 
master,  yet  as  an  eloquent  and  accomphshed  advo- 
cate, he  had  no  competitor. 

He  pursued  his  profession  for  twelve  years  with 
unremitting  ardor.  But  in  1766,  he  relaxed  from 
his  toils,  and  made  a  visit  to  England,  where  he 
remained  some  fifteen  months.  He  was  received 
with  much  attention,  and  was  frequently  consulted 
by  the  Marquis  of  Rockingham,  and  other  distin- 
guished friends  of  America,  upon  the  affairs  of  the 
Colonies.  In  conjunction  with  Dr.  Franklin,  he 
had  several  interviews  with  the  merchants -of  Lon- 
don, trading  to  North  America,  upon  the  subject 
of  a  paper  currency  in  the  Colonies,  and  with  a 
view  to  the  repeal  of  the  act  of  Parliament  prohib- 
iting future  emissions. 


RICHARD  STOCKTON.  I93 

While  Mr.  Stockton  was  in  England,  Dr.  Fin- 
ley,  the  President  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey, 
died,  and  the  trustees  unanimously  elected  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Witherspoon,  of  Paisley,  in  Scotland,  as  his  suc- 
cessor. The  letter  to  Dr.  Witherspoon,  informing 
him  of  his  appointment,  was  transmitted  to  Mr. 
Stockton,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Board,  with  a 
request,  that  he  should  make  a  personal  application 
to  Dr.  Witherspoon,  to  solicit  his  acceptance.  To 
do  this,  it  became  necessary  that  he  should  take  a 
journey  to  Scotland.  The  result  of  his  visit,  and 
the  agency  which  he  had  in  securing  to  the  Col- 
lege the  services  of  Dr.  Witherspoon,  will  best  ap- 
pear, from  some  extracts  which  I  am  enabled  to 
make  from  letters,  written  by  him  about  this  time 
to  his  wife. 

In  a  letter,  dated  February  the  9th,  1767,  he 
says : — "  I  have  at  last  concluded  to  go  to  Scot- 
land. The  friends  of  the  College  here,  press  the 
propriety  of  the  step,  as  much  as  those  on  your 
side  the  water  have  done.  The  event  will  show, 
whether  I  take  all  this  labor  in  vain."  Upon  his 
return  from  Scotland,  in  a  letter  dated  London, 
March  the  17th,  1767,  he  thus  writes : — "  It  is  a 
matter  absolutely  certain,  that  if  I  had  not  gone  in 
person  to  Scotland,  Dr.  Witherspoon  would  not  have 
had  a  serious  thought  of  accepting  the  office — be- 
13 


194  RICHARD  STOCKTON. 

cause  neither  he,  nor  any  of  his  friends  with  whom 
he  would  have  consulted,  had  any  tolerable  idea  of 
the  place  to  which  he  was  invited,  had  no  adequate 
notions  of  the  importance  of  the  College  of  New 
Jersey,  and  more  than  all,  would  have  been  entirely 
discouraged  from  thinking  of  an  acceptance,  from 
an  artful,  plausible,  yet  wickedly  contrived  letter, 
sent  from  Philadelphia  to  a  gentleman  of  Edin- 
burgh. I  have  obtained  a  copy  of  it,  but  cannot 
take  time  to  send  you  any  extracts,  nor  would  it  be 
necessary  if  I  had  time,  because  the  contents  of  it 
at  present  had  better  be  unknown.  I  was  so  hap- 
py, as  to  have  an  entire  confidence  placed  in  me 
by  Dr.  Witherspoon,  and  thereby  I  was  able  to 
come  fairly  at  him.  I  certainly  have  succeeded  in 
removing  all  the  objections  which  have  originated 
in  his  own  mind.  Those  of  Mrs.  Witherspoon  I 
could  not  remove,  because  she  would  not  give  me 
an  opportunity  of  conversing  with  her,  although  I 
went  from  Edinburgh  to  Paisley,  fifty  miles,  on 
purpose.  After  I  returned  from  Paisley  to  Edin- 
burgh, letters  passed  between  Dr.  Witherspoon  and 
me,  whereby  I  have  received  some  hopes  that  she 
may  be  brought  over.  This  firmness  is  not  pecu- 
liar to  this  case ;  for  her  own  husband  informed 
me,  that  she  was  as  much  averse  to  removing  from 
an  inconsiderable  place  to  Paisley,  where  he  was 


RICHARD  STOCKTON.  195 

then  minister — from  whence  we  should  put  a  good- 
natured  construction,  and  suppose  that  it  is  only 
owing  to  a  certain  greatness  of  mind,  averse  to 
changing  place.  I  wish  we  may  have  reason  to 
think  so  finally.  I  have  taken  most  effectual  mea- 
sures to  make  her  refusal  very  troublesome  to  her. 
I  have  engaged  all  the  eminent  clergymen  in  Edin- 
burgh and  Glasgow,  to  attack  her  in  her  intrench- 
ments,  and  they  are  determined  to  take  her  by 
storm,  if  nothing  else  will  do.  This  has  a  favorable 
aspect,  and  is  at  the  same  time  surprising ;  because 
they  were  upon  my  first  coming,  so  unwilling  to 
part  with  her  husband;  but  the  light  in  which  I 
have  set  the  affairs  of  the  College,  has  made  them 
perfect  proselytes." 

Soon  after  Mr.  Stockton's  return  to  New  Jer- 
sey, he  had  the  satisfaction  of  informing  the  board 
of  trustees,  that  he  had  received  letters  from  Scot- 
land, informing  him,  that  the  difficulties  which  had 
prevented  Dr.  Witherspoon's  acceptance  of  the 
Presidentship  had  been  removed,  and  that  upon  a 
re-election,  he  would  esteem  it  a  duty  to  accept 
the  appointment.  It  is  due  to  Mrs.  Witherspoon 
to  say,  that  she  became  perfectly  reconciled  to  her 
husband's  removal,  and  cheerfully  accompanied  him 
to  a  distant  clime,  renouncing  all  hope  of  ever  re- 
turning to  the  "  land  of  her  fathers'  sepulchres." 


]96  RICHARD  STOCKTON. 

Mr.  Stockton's  reception  in  Edinburgh  was  flat- 
tering to  him.  He  was  waited  upon  by  the  Lord 
Provost  and  Council,  who  invited  him  to  a  pubhc 
dinner,  after  which  the  freedom  of  the  city  was 
conferred  upon  him.  A  similar  honor  was  paid  to 
him  in  the  town  of  Paisley.  He  returned  to  Ame- 
rica in  September,  1767.  The  next  year  he  was 
made  a  member  of  Council,  and  in  1774,  he  was 
appointed  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  took 
his  seat  upon  the  Bench  alongside  of  his  old  and 
honored  preceptor,  David  Ogden. 

His  subsequent  career  is  too  well  known,  to 
make  it  necessary  that  I  should  dwell  upon  it.  On 
the  twenty-first  of  June,  1776,  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  general  Congress,  then  sitting  in 
Philadelphia.  Among  his  colleagues,  was  Dr. 
Witherspoon,  who  from  his  first  landing  upon  our 
shores,  had  proved  himself  to  be  in  heart  an  Ame- 
rican ;  who  from  the  earliest  stage  of  the  contest, 
had  warmly  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Colonies ; 
and  who  shed  lustre  upon  his  adopted  country,  no 
less  by  his  wisdom  in  council,  than  by  his  zeal  for 
the  promotion  of  science  and  learning.  The  dele- 
gates from  New  Jersey  were  instructed  to  unite 
with  the  representatives  of  the  other  Colonies,  in 
the  most  vigorous  measures  for  the  support  of  the 
just  rights   and  liberties   of  America;    and  if  it 


RICHARD  STOCKTON. 


197 


should  be  thought  expedient  and  necessary,  to  join 
in  declaring  the  United  Colonies  independent  of 
Great  Britain. 

Mr.  Stockton  was  present  during  the  debates  in 
Congress,  which  preceded  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence ;  in  a  short  but  energetic  speech,  he  ex- 
pressed his  full  concurrence  in  the  measure,  and 
had  the  honor  of  affixing  his  name  to  that  immortal 
instrument.'      But  if  there  was  honor,  there  was 


'  Mr.  Sedgwick,  in  his  Life  of  Gov- 
ernor Livingston,  p.  194,  note,  ob- 
serves, that  the  New  Jersey  de- 
legation, consisting  of  Witherspoon, 
Stockton  and  others,  arrived  after  the 
Declaration  had  been  signed,  but 
were  allowed  to  affix  their  names  to 
it.  This  statement  is  made  on  the 
authority  of  a  letter  from  Samuel 
Adams  to  Richard  Henry  Lee,  dated 
July  15th,  1776,  in  which  the  follow- 
ing expressions  occur : — "  We  were 
more  fortunate  than  we  expected,  in 
having  twelve  of  the  thirteen  Colo- 
nies in  favor  of  the  all-important 
question.  The  delegates  of  New 
Jersey  were  not  empowered  to  give 
their  voice  on  either  side.  Their 
Convention  has  since  acceded  to  the 
Declaration,  and  published  it,  even 
before  they  received  it  from  Con- 
gress."— ii.  H.  Lee's  Mem.,  vol.  i , 
p.  183. 

This  is  unquestionably  high  autho- 
rity, nor  is  it  easy  to  see,  how  Mr. 
Adams  could  have  been  mistaken 
with  regard  to  a  matter  of  this  kind. 
And  yet  it  is  very  certain,  that  the 


delegates  from  New  Jersey  were  em- 
powered to  vote  in  favor  of  Lidepend- 
ence,  and  that  they  did  do  so.  They 
took  their  seats  in  Congress  some 
days  before  the  final  question  was 
taken  upon  the  Declaration,  and  par- 
ticipated in  the  debates  which  pre- 
ceded its  adoption.  They  were  ap- 
pointed on  the  21st  of  June,  after  the 
proposition  to  declare  Independence 
had  been  brought  forward  in  Con- 
gress, and  with  a  full  knowledge  of 
that  fact ;  and  they  were  expressly 
authorized  "  to  join  with  the  delegates 
of  the  other  Colonies  in  declaring  the 
United  Colonies  independent  of  Great 
Britain,  and  entering  into  a  Confed- 
eration for  union  and  common  de- 
fence." On  the  2Sth  of  June,  as  ap- 
pears by  the  Journal,  Mr.  Hopkinson 
appeared  in  Congress,  and  presented 
the  instructions  under  which  he  and 
his  colleagues  were  appointed. — Jour- 
nals of  Congress,  vol.  ii.,  p.  230. 
How  then  Mr.  Adams,  writing  on 
the  15th  of  July,  could  have  said, 
that  the  New  Jersey  delegates  were 
not  empowered  to  give  their  voice  on 


198  RICHARD  STOCKTON. 

also  peril  in  it ;  and  no  one  of  those  illustrious  men 
hazarded  more,  or  suffered  more,  than  he  did.  His 
residence  at  Princeton  was  directly  in  the  route 
of  the  victorious  British  Army,  in  its  triumphant 
march  through  New  Jersey.  His  happy  home 
was  soon  the  scene  of  desolation,  his  estate  was 
laid  waste,  his  property  pillaged  and  destroyed. 
Compelled  to  fly  with  his  wife  and  children  to  a 
place  of  safety,  he  sought  refuge  in  the  house  of  an 
old  friend  and  fellow-patriot  in  the  county  of  Mon- 
mouth. But  the  place  of  his  retreat  was  soon  dis- 
covered by  a  party  of  refugee  royalists,  who  drag- 
ged him  from  his  bed  at  night,  subjected  him  to 
every  species  of  insult  and  indignity,  exposed  him 
to  all  the  severity  of  a  most  inclement  season,  hur- 
ried him  to  Amboy,  and  thence  to  the  city  of  New 
York,  where  he  was  ignominiously  thrown  into  a 
common  jail.  Here  his  treatment  was  so  severe 
and  inhuman,  as  to  call  for  the   interposition  of 

either  side,  is  inexplicable.    That  Dr.  H.  Lee's  Mem.,  vol.  i.  176.    So  when 

Witherspoon  was  present  during  the  a  distinguished  member  of  Congress 

discussion  of  the   question  of  Inde-  said,  we   were  "  not  yet  ripe  for  a 

pendence,  appears  from  various  cir-  Declaration    of   Independence,"    Dr. 

cumstances.     In  the  original  draft  of  Witherspoon  replied,  "  in  my  judg- 

the    Declaration,  among  the   foreign  ment,  sir,  we  are  not  only  ripe,  but 

mercenary  troops,  which  George  III.  rotting." — Saunderson's  Biography  of 

is  upbraided  with  having  sent  to  in-  the  Signers,  vol.  ii.  215.     It  is  equal- 

vade  America,  the  Scotch  are  men-  ly  certain  that  Mr.  Stockton  was  pre- 

iioned.     It  was  upon  the  motion  of  sent  and  took  part  in  the  debates. — 

Dr.  Witherspoon,  or  at  his  instance,  Saunderson's  Biography  of  the  Sign- 

that  this  word  was  stricken  out. — E.  ers,  vol.  ii.  192. 


RICHARD  STOCKTON.  199 

Congress,  who  instructed  General  Washington  to 
remonstrate  with  General  Howe,  against  this  wan- 
ton violation  of  all  the  rules  of  civilized  warfare. 

He  was  at  length  released  from  his  cruel  cap- 
tivity, but  his  constitution  had  received  a  shock 
from  which  it  never  recovered,  and  the  period  of 
his  active  usefulness  was  at  an  end.  The  few  re- 
maining years  of  his  life  were  imbittered  by  a  can- 
cerous affection,  of  peculiar  malignity,  and  which 
preyed  upon  him  with  the  most  exquisite  pain,  from 
which  no  relief  could  be  obtained  but  by  the  use  of 
anodynes.  But  although  he  did  not  live  to  see  that 
independence,  for  which  he  had  done  and  suffered  so 
much,  secured  and  acknowledged,  yet  he  died  in  the 
full  faith  and  hope  of  its  final  accomphshment.  He 
expired  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  February,  1781,  at 
his  residence  in  Princeton,  in  the  fifty-first  year  of 
his  age.^     His  remains  were  taken  to  the  chapel  of 


1  Mr.  Stockton  left  two  sons  and  and  died  at  Princeton,  October  2nd 

four  daughters.     Both  of  his  sons  be-  1821.    Mary  was  married  to  the  Rev 

came  very  eminent  as  lawyers.  Rich-  Dr.  Andrew  Hunter,  of  whom  mention 

ard,   the   eldest,  died   at   Princeton,  has  already  been  made  ;  she  died  at 

March  7th,  1828.      Lucius    Horatio  Princeton,  March  18th,  1846.     Abby, 

died   at  Trenton,  May   26th,    1835.  the  youngest  daughter,  and  only  sur- 

Julia,  his  eldest  daughter,  was  mar-  viving   child  of  Mr.  Stockston,  was 

ried  to  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  who  was  married  to  Robert  Field,  of  White- 

also  a  signer   of  the  Declaration  of  hill,  in  the  county  of  Burlington.  She 

Independence.     She  lived  to  an  ad-  is  still  living  at  Princeton, 

vanced  age,  and  died  in  Philadelphia,  Mr.  Stockton  married  the  sister  of 

July  7th,  1848.     Susan  was  married  the  late  Dr.  Elias  Boudinot,  of  Bur- 

to  Alexander  Cuthbert,  of  Canada,  lington,  who  was  President  of  Con- 


200  RICHARD  STOCKTON. 

the  College,  where  a  funeral  discourse  was  pro- 
nounced by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Stanhope  Smith, 
then  the  Vice-President  of  that  institution. 

"  It  was  one  of  his  earliest  honors,"  said  this 
eloquent  divine,  "  to  have  been  a  son  of  this  Col- 
lege, and  it  was  one  of  the  first  honors  of  this  Col- 
lege, to  have  given  birth  to  such  a  son.  After  hav- 
ing adorned  the  place  of  his  education  by  his  tal- 
ents, he  soon  rose  to  the  Board  of  its  Trustees,  and 
has  ever  since  been  one  of  its  most  distinguished 
patrons. 

"Young  gentlemen,"  said  he,  addressing  the 
students  of  the  College,  "  another  of  the  fathers  of 
learning  and  of  eloquence  is  gone.  While  you  feel 
and  deplore  his  loss  as  a  guardian  of  your  studies, 
and  as  a  model  upon  which  you  might  form  your- 
selves for  public  life,  let  the  memory  of  what  he 
was  excite  you  to  emulate  his  fame ;  let  the  sight 


gress    under     the    Confederation,    a  said   to    have  remarked,  that    there 

member  of  the  House  of  Representa-  were  two  books  m  it  which  she  chief- 

tives  after  the  adoption  of  the  Consti-  ly  valued,  and  if  these  were  left  to 

tution,  and  the  first  Director  of  the  her,  she  would  almost  be  reconciled 

Mint    of  the    United  States.      Mrs.  to  the  loss  of  the  rest ;  one  was  the 

Stockton  was  a  woman  of  a  highly  Bible,  and  the  other  Young's  Night 

cultivated  mind,  and  of  fine  literary  Thoughts,  of  which  she  was  a  great 

taste.     She  wrote  a  number  of  poeti-  admirer.    The  tradition  is,  that  when 

cal  effusions,  many  of  which  possess-  she  returned  to  her  desolate  mansion, 

ed  no  inconsiderable  merit.  When  she  these  very  books  were  the  only  ones 

heard  of  the  destruction  by  the  Bri-  that  were  found  to  have  escaped, 
tish  of  her  valuable   library,  she    is 


RICHARD  STOCKTON.  201 

of  what  he  is,  teach  you  that  every  thing  human  is 
marked  with  imperfection. 

"  At  the  Bar  he  practised  for  many  years  with 
unrivalled  reputation  and  success.  ...  In  Council 
he  was  wise  and  firm,  but  always  prudent  and  mo-' 
derate.  .  .  .  The  office  of  a  Judge  of  the  Province 
was  never  filled  with  more  integrity  and  learning 
than  it  was  by  him,  for  several  years  before  the 
Revolution.  ...  In  his  private  life,  he  was  easy 
and  graceful  in  his  manners;  in  his  conversation 
affable  and  entertaining,  and  master  of  a  smooth 
and  elegant  style  even  in  his  ordinary  discourse. 
As  a  man  of  letters,  he  possessed  a  superior  genius, 
highly  cultivated  by  long  and  assiduous  application. 
His  resarches  into  the  principles  of  morals  and  re- 
ligion were  deep  and  accurate,  and  his  knowledge 
of  the  laws  of  his  country  extensive  and  profound. 
He  was  well  acquainted  with  all  the  branches  of 
polite  learning ;  but  he  was  particularly  admired 
for  a  flowing  and  persuasive  eloquence,  by  which 
he  long  governed  in  the  Courts  of  Justice." 

Such  were  the  last  Judges  of  our  Supreme  Pro- 
vincial Court.  And  thus,  its  dying  glory  was  the 
brightest.  But  it  was  destined  to  be  revived  when 
the  Colony  became  a  State,  and  to  shine  with 
new  lustre — graced  by  a  succession  of  such  Chief 


202  RICHARD  STOCKTON. 

Justices,  as  Brearley,  and  Kinsey,  and  Kirkpatrick, 
and  Ewing — to  which,  we  may  not  doubt,  will 
hereafter  be  added  the  names  of  others  no  less  dis- 
tinguished, but  of  whom  I  am  not  now  permitted 
to  speak. 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX     A. 


In  connection  with  the  Courts  of  East  and  West  Jer- 
sey, under  their  Proprietary  Governments,  it  may  be  well  to 
glance  at  some  of  the  more  important  laws  which  were 
enacted.  Many  valuable  provisions  which  we  have  in- 
grafted upon  the  common  law,  and  which  now  exist  in 
our  statute  book,  will  be  found  to  have  originated  at  this 
early  period. 

The  first  step  towards  making  lands  liable  for  the  pay- 
ment of  debts,  was  taken  in  East  Jersey,  in  1679.  It  was 
enacted,  that  where  an  execution  issued  against  a  person 
having  lands,  the  defendant  should  make  a  conveyance  of 
such  lands  to  the  plaintiff,  in  satisfaction  of  his  debt ;  and 
upon  his  refusal  to  do  so,  he  was  to  be  imprisoned  until  the 
debt  and  charges  were  paid.'  And,  in  1682,  provision  was 
made  for  having  the  lands  of  a  defendant  in  execution  ap- 
praised, and  the  plaintiff  was  to  take  them  at  their  appraised 
value  in  satisfaction  of  his  debt,  paying  the  overplus,  if  any, 
to  the  defendant. '^ 

In  West  Jersey,  as  early  as  1682,  lands  were  made  lia- 
ble for  the  payment  of  debts,  in  all  cases  whatever,  when 

'  Grants  and  Concessions,  136.  '  lb.,  253. 


206  APPENDIX    A. 

the  personal  estate  of  the  defendant  was  insufficient  for  that 
purpose.' 

In  East  Jersey,  in  1682,  it  was  provided,  that  the  estate 
of  a  Feme  Covert  might  be  conveyed  by  a  deed  acknow- 
ledged in  the  Court  of  Common  Right,  the  wife  declaring, 
upon  a  secret  examination,  that  she  signed  it  freely,  with- 
out threats  or  compulsion  of  her  husband.^  By  a  subse- 
quent act,  this  acknowledgment  might  be  made  before  a 
Judge  of  any  Court  of  Record  in  the  Province.^ 

By  the  Fundamental  Constitutions  of  the  twenty-four 
Proprietors  of  East  Jersey,  it  was  declared,  that  there 
should  be  a  public  registry  for  deeds,  in  each  County,  and 
that  every  grant  and  conveyance  of  land — except  leases  for 
three  years  and  under — not  registered  within  six  months, 
should  be  void  in  law.*  A  similar  provision  is  contained 
in  the  Concessions  and  Agreements  of  the  West  Jersey 
Proprietors.^  And,  in  1695,  a  law  was  passed  in  West 
Jersey,  imposing  a  penalty  of  twenty  shillings  upon  every 
person  neglecting  for  the  space  of  six  months  to  have  a 
deed  recorded.® 

In  East  Jersey,  proceedings  against  non-resident  debtors 
were  authorized  in  1682;'  and,  in  West  Jersey,  in  1683,  an 
act  was  passed,  regulating  attachments  against  absconding 
debtors,  and  providing  for  an  equitable  distribution  of  their 
goods  and  estate,  among  such  of  their  creditors  as  should 
come  in  and  prove  their  claim  before  three  of  the  Magis- 
trates of  the  Province.^ 

By  the  laws  of  West  Jersey,  executors  were  required 
to  give  security  for  the  faithful  performance  of  their  trust  ;* 

^  Grants  and  Concessions,  447.  ^  Grants  and  Concessions,  541. 

«  lb.,  235.  7  lb.,  266. 

Mb.,  371.  »  lb.,  477. 

*  lb.,  162.  »  lb.,  430. 
'  lb.,  399. 


APPENDIX   A.  207 

and  where  parents  died  leaving  children,  and  no  estate  suf- 
ficient to  maintain  and  bring  them  up,  the  Governor  was 
to  appoint  some  one  to  take  care  of  them,  and  the  charges 
thereof  were  to  be  borne  by  the  public  stock  of  the  Pro- 
vince.' In  all  trials  wherein  any  of  the  native  Indians 
were  concerned,  the  Jury  were  to  consist  of  six  men  of  the 
neighborhood,  and  six  of  the  native  Indians.^ 

But  while  the  civil  laws  and  regulations  of  East  and 
West  J  ersey  bore  a  close  resemblance  to  each  other,  no- 
thing could  be  more  unlike  than  their  criminal  codes. 
While  the  former  exhibits  all  the  sternness  and  severity  of 
Puritan  legislation,  the  latter  shows  in  beautiful  contrast  the 
mildness  and  benignity  of  Quaker  rule. 

In  East  Jersey  there  were  no  less  than  thirteen  distinct 
offences,  for  which  the  punishment  of  death  might  be  in- 
flicted. In  this  long  hst  of  capital  crimes,  were  included 
not  only  murder,  robbery,  perjury,  burglary,  and  rape,  but 
witchcraft,  smiting  or  cursing  parents,  and  even  stealing 
where  the  thief  was  incorrigible. 

In  West  Jersey,  on  the  other  hand,  there  were  no  capi- 
tal  crimes  ;  no  offences  for  which  the  punishment  of  death 
was  prescribed.  Even  in  the  case  of  murder  and  treason, 
it  was  provided,  that  the  sentence  and  way  of  execution 
thereof,  should  be  left  to  the  General  Assembly  to  deter- 
mine, as  they  in  the  wisdom  of  the  Lord  should  judge  meet 
and  expedient.'  False  witnesses  were  to  be  severely  fined, 
forever  after  disabled  from  giving  testimony,  and  rendered 
incapable  of  holding  any  office  or  employment  in  the  Pro- 
vince.* Burglary  was  punished  with  whipping  for  the  first 
offence ;  and  for  the  second,  branding  with  a  T  in  the  fore- 
head ;  and  for  a  third,  branding  in  the  cheek,  and  imprison- 

^  Grants  and  Concessions,  431.  ^    Grants  and  concessions,  404. 

«  lb.,  401.  *  lb.,  429. 


208  APPENDIX    A. 

ment  at  hard  labor.*  The  thief  was  to  make  restitution 
fourfold  out  of  his  estate,  and  for  want  of  such  estate,  to 
work  for  his  theft  until  restitution  was  thereby  made.^ 
The  punishment  for  assault,  battery,  and  wounding,  was  to 
be  such,  as  twelve  men  of  the  neighborhood  should  determine 
upon. 3  Two  witnesses  were  required  in  all  cases  ;  the  ac- 
cused might  challenge  any  mumber  of  jurors,  not  exceeding 
thirty-five,  without  assigning  any  reason  ;  and  it  was  pro- 
vided, that  in  all  criminal  causes — treason,  murder,  and 
felony  excepted — the  prosecutor  should  have  full  power  to 
forgive  the  offender,  and  remit  the  punishment,  either  Be- 
fore or  after  judgment.^ 

But  it  was  not  merely  in  the  severity  of  the  penal  laws, 
that  the  influence  of  the  Puritans  was  discernible  in  the 
early  legislation  of  East  Jersey.  This  but  reflected  the 
harsher  features  of  their  character.  There  were  ot^er  en- 
actments, in  which  their  virtues  and  excellencies  shone 
conspicuously  forth.  Thus,  in  1693,  an  act  was  passed  by 
the  General  Assembly  of  East  Jersey,  for  the  promotion  of 
Education.  It  was  entitled,  "  An  Act  for  establishing 
Schoolmasters  within  this  Province."  Its  preamble  recites, 
that  the  cultivation  of  learning  and  good  manners  tends 
greatly  to  the  good  and  benefit  of  mankind.  It  authorized 
the  inhabitants  of  each  Township  to  meet  together,  and 
choose  three  men,  whose  duty  it  should  be  to  make  a  rate 
for  the  salary  and  maintaining  of  a  Schoolmaster  within 
the  said  Township,  for  as  long  a  time  as  they  should  think 
fit ;  and  it  provided,  that  the  consent  and  agreement  of  the 
major  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  Township,  should 
bind  and  oblige  the  remaining  part  of  the  inhabitants  to  sat- 
isfy and  pay  their  shares  and  proportions  of  said  rate  ;  and 

'  Grants  and  Concessions,  573.  '  Grants  and  Concessions,  434. 

""  lb.,  434.  «  lb.,  397. 


APPENDIX    A.  209 

the  goods  and  chattels  of  persons  refusing  or  neglecting  to 
pay  were  to  be  distrained  and  sold.'  This  act  is  not  only 
the  earliest,  but  I  am  inclined  to  think,  it  is  also  the  very 
best  law  we  have  ever  had  upon  the  subject  of  Common 
Schools.  Whatever  may  have  been  its  practical  operation, 
it  was  certainly  much  more  efficient  in  its  provisions,  than 
the  act  which  is  now  in  force. 

We  may  also  trace  the  influence  of  the  Puritans,  in  the 
pious  custom,  which  was  introduced  at  an  early  period  in 
the  history  of  East  Jersey,  of  setting  apart,  by  public  authori- 
ty, a  day  of  Thanksgiving  to  God  for  his  mercies.  In  1676, 
it  was  solemnly  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly,  that 
"  whereas  there  hath  been  signal  demonstrations  of  God's 
mercy  and  favor  towards  us  in  this  Colony,  in  the  preserving 
and  continuing  our  peace  in  the  midst  of  wars  round  about 
us,  together  with  many  other  mercies  which  we  are  sensi- 
ble of,  which  call  aloud  for  our  acknowledgment  and  thanks- 
giving to  the  Lord,"  therefore,  "  Be  it  enacted  by  this  As- 
sembly, that  there  be  a  day  of  public  Thanksgiving  set 
apart  throughout  the  whole  Province,  to  give  God  the  Glory 
and  Praise  thereof,  and  oblige  us  to  live  to  his  praise,  and 
in  his  fear  always,  which  day  shall  be  the  second  Wednes- 
day in  November  next  ensuing."^  And,  in  1679,  we  find 
the  twenty-sixth  day  of  November  set  apart,  by  an  act  of 
Assembly,  as  a  day  of  Thanksgiving.^  This  appointment  of 
a  day  of  Thanksgiving,  by  the  representatives  of  the  people 
convened  in  General  Assembly,  was  calculated  to  add 
much  to  its  solemnity,  and  it  may  be  regretted,  that  we 
should  now  give  to  it  no  higher  sanction  than  the  Procla- 
mation of  a  Governor. 


•  Grants  and  Concessions,  328.  '  Grants  and  Concessions,  137. 

«  lb.,  121. 


14 


APPENDIX    B 


INSTRUCTIONS  for  our  Right  Trusty  and  well 
beloved  Edward  Lord  Cornbury,  our  Cap- 
tain General  and  Governor  in  Chief  in  and 
over  our  Province  of  Nova-Caesarea,  or  New- 
Jersey,  in  America.  Given  at  our  Court  at  St. 
James's,  the  16th  Day  of  November,  1702,  in 
the  first  Year  of  our  Reign. 

1.  WITH  these  our  Instructions  you  will  receive  our 
Commission  under  our  Great  Seal  of  England,  constituting 
you  our  Captain  General  and  Governor  in  Chief  of  our 
Province  of  New-Jersey. 

2.  You  are  with  all  convenient  speed  to  repair  to  our 
said  Province,  and  being  there  arrived,  you  are  to  take 
upon  you  the  Execution  of  the  Place  and  Trust  we  have 
reposed  in  you,  and  forthwith  to  call  together  the  following 
Persons,  whom  we  do  by  these  Presents  appoint  and  con- 
stitute Members  of  our  Council  in  and  for  that  Province, 
viz.  Edward  Hunlock,  Lewis  Morris,  Andrew  Bowne, 
Samuel    Jennings,    Thomas    Revill,   Francis    Devenport, 


APPENDIX    B.  211 

William  Pinhorne,  Samuel  Leonard,  George  Deacon, 
Samuel  Walker,  Daniel  Leeds,  William  Sandford,  and 
Robert  Quary,  Esqrs. 

3.  And  you  are  with  all  due  Solemnity,  to  cause  our 
said  Commission  under  our  Great  Seal  of  England,  con- 
stituting you  our  Captain  General  and  Governor  in  Chief  as 
aforesaid,  to  be  read  and  published  at  the  said  Meeting  of 
our  Council,  and  to  cause  Proclamation  to  be  made  in  the 
several  most  publick  Places  of  our  said  Province,  of  your 
being  constituted  by  us  our  Captain  General  and  Governor 
in  Chief  as  aforesaid. 

4.  Which  being  done  you  shall  yourself  take,  and  also 
administer  to  each  of  the  Members  of  our  said  Council,  so 
appointed  by  us,  the  Oaths  appointed  by  Act  of  Parliament 
to  be  taken  instead  of  the  Oaths  of  Allegiance  and  Suprema- 
cy, and  the  Oath  mentioned  in  an  Act,  entitled,  An  Act  to 
declare  the  Alteration  in  the  Oath  appointed  to  be  taken,  by 
the  Act,  entitled.  An  Act  for  the  further  Security  of  his 
Majesty's  Person,  and  the  Succession  of  the  Crown  in  the 
Protestant  Line  and  for  extinguishing  the  hopes  of  the 
Pretended  Prince  of  Wales,  and  all  other  Pretenders  and 
their  open  and  Secret  Abettors,  and  for  declaring  the  As- 
sociation to  be  determined.  As  also  the  Test  mentioned  in 
an  Act  of  Parliament  made  in  the  25th  Year  of  the  Reign 
of  King  Charles  the  Second,  entitled.  An  Act  for  prevent- 
ing dangers  which  may  happen  from  Popish  Recusants, 
together  with  an  Oath  for  the  due  Execution  of  your  and 
their  Places  and  Trusts,  as  well  with  regard  to  the  Equal 
and  Impartial  Administration  of  Justice  in  all  Causes  that 
shall  come  before  you,  as  otherwise,  and  likewise  the  Oath 
required  to  be  taken  by  Governors  of  Plantations  to  do 


212  APPENDIX    B. 

their  utmost,  that  the  Laws  relating  to  tlie  Plantations  be 
observed. 

5.  You  are  forthwith  to  communicate  unto  our  said 
Council,  such  and  so  many  of  these  our  Instructions, 
wherein  their  Advice  and  Consent  are  mentioned  to  be  re- 
quisite, as  likewise  all  such  others  from  Time  to  Time,  as 
you  shall  find  convenient  for  our  Service  to  be  imparted  to 
them. 

6.  And  whereas  the  Inhabitants  of  our  said  Province 
have  of  late  Years  been  unhappily  divided,  and  by  their 
Enmity  to  each  other,  our  Service  and  their  own  Welfare 
has  been  very  much  obstructed,  you  are  therefore  in  the 
Execution  of  our  Commission  to  avoid  the  Engaging  your 
self  in  the  Parties  which  have  been  form'd  amongst  them, 
and  to  use  such  Impartiality  and  Moderation  to  all,  as  may 
best  conduce  to  our  Service  and  the  good  of  the  Colony. 

7.  You  are  to  permit  the  Members  of  our  said  Council 
to  have  and  enjoy  Freedom  of  Debate,  and  Vote  in  all  Af- 
fairs of  publick  Concern,  that  may  be  debated  in  Council. 

8.  And  altho'  by  our  Commission  aforesaid,  we  have 
thought  fit  to  direct  that  any  three  of  our  Councillors  make 
a  Quorum,  it  is  nevertheless  our  Will  and  Pleasure,  that 
you  do  not  Act  with  a  Quorum  of  less  than  five  Members 
except  in  case  of  Necessity. 

9.  And  that  we  may  be  always  informed  of  the  Names 
and  Characters  of  Persons  fit  to  supply  the  vacancies 
which  shall  happen  in  our  said  Council,  you  are  to  trans- 
mit unto  us  by  one  of  our  Principal  Secretaries  of  State, 
and  to  our  Commissioners  for  Trade  and  Plantations,  with 


APPENDIX   B.  213 

all  convenient  speed,  the  Names  and  Characters  of  six  Per- 
sons Inhabitants  of  the  Eastern  Division,  and  six  other  Per- 
sons Inhabitants  of  the  Western  Division  of  our  said  Prov- 
ince, whom  you  shall  esteem  the  best  qualified  for  that 
Trust,  and  so  from  Time  to  Time  when  any  of  them  shall 
dye,  depart  out  of  our  said  Province,  or  become  otherwise 
unfit,  you  are  to  nominate  unto  us  so  many  other  Persons 
in  their  stead,  that  the  List  of  Twelve  Persons  fit  to  supply 
the  said  Vacancies,  viz.  six  of  the  East,  and  six  out  of  the 
West  Division  as  aforesaid,  may  be  always  compleat. 

10.  You  are  from  Time  to  Time  to  send  to  us  as  afore- 
said, and  to  our  Commissioners  for  Trade  and  Plantations, 
the  Names  and  Qualities  of  any  Members  by  you  put  into 
our  said  Council,  by  the  first  conveniency  after  your  so 
doing. 

1 1 .  And  in  the  Choice  and  Nomination  of  the  Members 
of  our  said  Council,  as  also  of  the  principal  Officers,  Judges, 
Assistants,  Justices  and  Sheriffs,  you  are  allways  to  take 
care  that  they  be  Men  of  good  Life  and  well  affected  to 
our  Government,  of  good  Estates  and  Abilities,  and  not 
necessitous  People  or  much  in  Debt. 

12.  You  are  neither  to  augment  nor  diminish  the  num- 
ber of  our  said  Council,  as  it  is  hereby  established,  nor  to 
suspend  any  of  the  present  Members  thereof  without  good 
and  sufficient  cause :  And  in  case  of  suspension  of  any  of 
them,  you  are  to  cause  your  Reasons  for  so  doing,  together 
with  the  Charges  and  Proofs  against  the  said  Persons,  and 
their  Answers  thereunto  (unless  you  have  some  extraordi- 
nary reason  to  the  contrary)  to  be  duly  entered  upon  the 
Council  Books,  and  you  are  forthwith  to  transmit  the  same 


214  APPENDIX    B. 

together  with  your  Reasons  for  not  entering  them  upon 
the  Council  Books,  (in  case  you  do  not  enter  them)  unto 
us  and  to  our  Commissioners  for  Trade  and  Plantations  as 
aforesaid. 

13.  You  are  to  signify  our  Pleasure  unto  the  Members 
of  our  said  Council  that  if  any  of  them  shall  at  any  Time 
hereafter  absent  themselves,  and  continue  absent  above  the 
space  of  two  Months  together  from  our  said  Province 
without  Leave  from  you,  or  from  our  Governor  or  Com- 
mander in  Chief  of  our  said  Province,  for  the  Time  being, 
first  obtained ;  or  shall  remain  absent  for  the  space  of  two 
Years  or  the  greater  Part  thereof  successively  without  our 
Leave  given  them  under  our  royal  Sign  Manual,  their 
Place  or  Places  in  our  said  Council,  shall  immediately 
thereupon  become  void,  and  that  we  will  forthwith  appoint 
others  in  their  stead. 

14.  And  in  order  to  the  better  consolidating  and  incor- 
porating the  two  Divisions  of  East  and  West  New-Jersey, 
into  and  under  one  Government,  Our  Will  and  Pleasure  is, 
that  with  all  convenient  speed,  you  call  together  one  Gene- 
ral Assembly  for  the  Enacting  of  Laws  for  the  joint  and 
mutual  good  of  the  whole ;  and  that  the  said  General  As- 
sembly do  sit  in  the  first  Place  at  Perth-Amhoy,  in  East 
New-Jersey,  and  afterwards  the  same,  or  other  the  next 
General  Assembly  at  Burlington  in  West  New-Jersey ;  and 
that  all  future  General  Assemblies  do  set  at  one  or  the  other 
of  those  Places  alternately,  or  (in  Cases  of  extraordinary 
Necessity)  according  as  you  with  the  advice  of  our  afore- 
said Council,  shall  think  fit  to  appoint  them. 

15.  And  our  further  Will  and  Pleasure  is,  that  the 
General  Assembly  so  to  be  called,  do  consist  of  four  and 


APPENDIX    B.  215 

Twenty  Representatives ;  who  are  to  be  chosen  in  the 
manner  following,  viz.  Two  by  the  Inhabitants  House- 
holders of  the  City  or  Town  of  Perth- AiJiboy,  in  East 
New-Jersey,  two  by  the  Inhabitants  House-holders  of  the 
City  and  Town  of  Burlington  in  West  New-Jersey ;  Ten 
by  the  Freeholders  of  East  New-Jersey,  and  Ten  by  the 
Freeholders  of  West  New-Jersey  ;  and  that  no  Person  shall 
be  capable  of  being  elected  a  Representative  by  the  Free- 
holders of  either  Division,  or  afterwards  of  sitting  in  Gene- 
ral Assemblies,  who  shall  not  have  one  Thousand  Acres 
of  Land  of  an  Estate  of  Freehold,  in  his  own  Right,  within 
the  Division  for  which  he  shall  be  chosen ;  and  that  no 
Freeholder  shall  be  capable  of  voting  in  the  Election  of 
such  Representative,  who  shall  not  have  one  Hundred 
Acres  of  Land  of  an  Estate  of  Freehold  in  his  own  Right, 
within  the  Division  for  which  he  shall  so  Vote :  And  that 
this  Number  of  Representatives  shall  not  be  enlarged  or 
diminished,  or  the  manner  of  electing  them  altered,  other- 
wise than  by  an  Act  or  Acts  of  the  General  Assembly 
there,  and  confirmed  by  the  Approbation  of  us,  our  Heirs 
and  Successors. 

16.  You  are  with  all  convenient  speed  to  cause  a  Col- 
lection to  be  made  of  all  the  Laws,  Orders,  Rules,  or  such 
as  have  hitherto  served  or  been  reputed  as  Laws  amongst 
the  Inhabitants  of  our  said  Province  of  Nova-Ccesarea  or 
New-Jersey,  and  together  with  our  aforesaid  Council  and 
Assembly,  you  are  to  revise,  correct,  and  amend  the  same, 
as  may  be  necessary ;  and  accordingly  to  enact  such  and  so 
many  of  them,  as  by  you  with  the  Advice  of  our  said  Coun- 
cil and  Assembly,  shall  be  judged  proper  and  conducive  to 
our  Service,  and  the  welfare  of  our  said  Province,  that 
they  may  be  transmitted  unto  us,  in  authentick  Form,  for 
our  Approbation  or  Disallowance. 


216  APPENDIX    B. 

17.  You  are  to  observe  in  the  passing  of  the  said  Laws, 
and  of  all  other  Laws,  that  the  Stile  enacting  the  same,  be 
by  the  Governor,  Council  and  Assembly,  and  no  other. 

18.  You  are  also  as  much  as  possible  to  observe  in  the 
passing  of  all  Laws,  that  whatever  may  be  requisite  upon 
each  different  Matter,  be  accordingly  provided  for  by  a  dif- 
ferent Law,  without  intermixing  in  one  and  the  same  Act, 
such  Things  as  have  no  proper  Relation  to  each  other ; 
and  you  are  especially  to  take  care  that  no  Clause  or 
Clauses  be  inserted  in,  or  annexed  to  any  Act  which  shall 
be  Foreign  to  what  the  Title  of  such  respective  Act 
imports. 

19.  You  are  to  transmit  authentic  Copies  of  the  fore- 
mentioned  Laws  that  shall  be  Enacted,  and  of  all  Laws, 
Statutes,  and  Ordinances  which  shall  at  any  Time  hereafter 
be  made  or  enacted  within  our  said  Province,  each  of  them 
separately,  under  the  publick  Seal,  unto  us  and  our  said 
Commissioners  for  Trade  and  Plantations,  within  three 
Months  or  by  the  first  opportunity  after  their  being  Enact- 
ed, together  with  Duplicates  thereof  by  the  next  Convey- 
ance, upon  pain  of  our  high  displeasure,  and  of  the  forfeit- 
ure of  that  Years  Salary,  wherein  you  shall  at  any  Time, 
or  upon  any  pretence  whatsoever,  omit  to  send  over  the 
said  Laws,  Statutes  and  Ordinances  as  aforesaid,  within 
the  Time  above  limited,  as  also  of  such  other  Penalty  as 
we  shall  please  to  inflict.  But  if  it  shall  happen  that  dur- 
ing Time  of  War,  no  Shipping  shall  come  from  our  said 
Province  or  other  our  adjacent  or  neighbouring  Plantations, 
within  three  Months  after  the  making  such  Laws,  Statutes 
and  Ordinances,  whereby  the  same  may  be  transmitted  as 
aforesaid,  then  the  said  Laws,  Statutes,  and  Ordinances 


APPENDIX    B.  217 

are  to  be  so  transmitted  as  aforesaid,  by  the  next  convey- 
ance after  the  making  thereof,  whenever  it  may  happen, 
for  our  Approbation  or  Disallovirance  of  the  same. 

20.  You  are  to  take  care  that  in  all  Acts  or  Orders,  to 
be  passed  within  that  our  Province,  in  any  Case  for  levying 
Money  or  imposing  Fines  and  Penalties,  express  mention 
be  made  that  the  same  is  granted  or  reserved  for  Us,  our 
Heirs  or  Successors  for  the  publick  Uses  of  that  our  Pro- 
vince, and  the  Support  of  the  Government  thereof,  as  by 
the  said  Act  or  Orders  shall  be  directed. 

21.  And  we  do  particularly  require  and  command,  that 
no  Money,  or  value  of  Money  whatsoever,  be  given  or 
granted  by  any  Act  or  Order  of  Assembly,  to  any  Gov- 
ernor, Lieutenant  Governor,  or  Commander  in  Chief  of  our 
said  Province,  which  shall  not  according  to  the  Stile  of 
Acts  of  Parliament  in  England,  be  mentioned  to  be  given 
and  granted  unto  Us,  with  the  humble  desire  of  such  As- 
sembly, that  the  same  be  applied  to  the  Use  and  Behoof  of 
such  Governor,  Lieutenant  Governor,  or  Commander  in 
Chief,  if  we  shall  so  think  fit ;  or  if  we  shall  not  approve  of 
such  Gift  or  Application,  that  the  said  Money  or  Value  of 
Money  be  then  disposed  of  and  appropriated  to  such  other 
Uses  as  in  the  said  Act  or  Order  shall  be  mentioned,  and 
that  from  the  Time  the  same  shall  be  raised,  it  remain  in 
the  Hands  of  the  Receiver  of  our  said  Province  until  our 
Royal  Pleasure  shall  be  known  therein. 

22.  You  shall  also  propose  with  the  said  General  As- 
sembly, and  use  your  utmost  endeavours  with  them,  that 
an  Act  be  passed  for  raising  and  settling  a  publick  Reve- 
nue for  defraying  the  necessary  Charges  of  the  Govern- 


218  APPENDIX    B. 

ment  of  our  said  Province,  in  which  Provision  be  particu- 
larly made  for  a  competent  Salary  to  yourself,  as  Captain 
General  and  Governor  in  Chief  of  our  said  Province,  and 
to  other  our  succeeding  Captain  Generals,  for  supporting 
the  Dignity  of  the  said  Office,  as  likewise  due  Provision  for 
the  Salaries  of  the  respective  Members  of  our  Council  and 
Assembly,  and  all  other  Officers  necessary  for  the  Adminis- 
tration of  that  Government. 

23.  Whereas  it  is  not  reasonable  that  any  of  our  Colo- 
nies or  Plantations  should  by  virtue  of  any  Exemptions  or 
other  Privileges  whatsoever,  be  allowed  to  seek  and  pursue 
their  own  particular  Advantages,  by  methods  tending  to 
undermine  and  prejudice  our  other  Colonies  and  Planta- 
tions, which  have  equal  Title  to  our  Royal  Care ;  and 
whereas  the  Trade  and  Welfare  of  our  Province  of  New- 
York,  would  be  greatly  prejudiced,  if  not  intirely  ruined, 
by  allowing  unto  the  Inhabitants  of  Nova  CcBsarea,  or 
New-Jersey,  any  Exemption  from  those  Charges,  which  the 
Inhabitants  o{  New -York  are  liable  to,  you  are  therefore  in 
the  settling  of  a  Publick  Revenue  as  before  directed,  to 
propose  to  the  Assembly,  that  such  Customs,  Duties  and 
other  Impositions  be  laid  upon  all  Commodities  imported  or 
exported  in  or  out  of  our  said  Province  of  Nova  Ccesarea, 
or  New-Jersey,  as  may  equal  the  Charge  that  is  or  shall  be 
laid  upon  the  Hke  Commodities  in  our  Province  of  New- 
York. 

24.  And  whereas  we  are  willing  in  the  best  manner  to 
provide  for  the  Support  of  the  Government  of  our  said  Pro- 
vince, by  setting  a  Part  sufficient  allowances  to  such  as 
shall  be  our  Governor  or  Commander  in  Chief,  residing  for 
the  Time  being  within  the  same.  Our  Will  and  Pleasure 
therefore  is,  that  when  it  shall  happen,  that  you  shall  be 


APPENDIX    B.  219 

absent  from  the  Territories  of  New-Jersey  and  New-  York, 
of  which  we  have  appointed  you  Governor,  one  full  Moiety 
of  the  Salary  and  of  all  Perquisites  and  Emoluments  what- 
soever, which  would  otherwise  become  due  unto  you,  shall, 
during  the  Time  of  your  absence  from  the  said  Territories, 
be  paid  and  satisfied  unto  such  Governor  or  Commander  in 
Chief  who  shall  be  resident  upon  the  Place  for  the  Time 
being,  which  we  do  hereby  order  and  allot  unto  him  to- 
wards his  Maintenance,  and  for  the  better  Support  of  the 
Dignity  of  that  our  Government. 

25.  Whereas  great  Prejudices  may  happen  to  our  Ser- 
vice and  the  Security  of  our  said  Province  under  your 
Government  by  your  absence  from  those  Parts,  without  a 
sufficient  Cause  and  especial  Leave  from  us  ;  for  preven- 
tion thereof,  you  are  not  upon  any  pretence  whatsoever  to 
come  to  Europe  from  your  Government,  without  first  hav- 
ing obtained  Leave  for  so  doing,  under  our  Signet  and 
Sign  Manual,  or  by  our  Order  in  our  privy  Council. 

26.  You  are  not  to  permit  any  Clause  whatsoever  to  be 
inserted  in  any  Law  for  the  levying  Money,  or  the  value 
of  Money,  whereby  the  same  shall  not  be  made  liable  to  be 
accounted  for  unto  us  here  in  England,  and  to  our  high 
Treasurer,  or  to  our  Commissioners  of  our  Treasury  for 
the  Time  being. 

27.  You  are  to  take  care  that  fair  Books  of  Accounts 
of  all  Receipts  and  Payments  of  all  such  Money  be  duly 
kept,  and  the  Truth  thereof  attested  upon  Oath,  and  that  the 
said  Books  be  transmitted  every  half  Year,  or  oftener,  to 
our  High  Treasurer  or  to  our  Commissioners  of  our  Trea- 
sury for  the  Time  being,  and  to  our  Commissioners  for 
Trade  and  Plantations,  and  Duplicates  thereof  by  the  next 


220  APPENDIX    B. 

Conveyance  ;  in  which  Books  shall  be  specified,  every  par- 
ticular Sum  raised  or  disposed  of,  together  with  the  Names 
of  the  Persons  to  whom  any  Payment  shall  be  made,  to  the 
End  we  may  be  satisfied  of  the  right  and  due  Application 
of  the  Revenue  of  our  said  Province. 

28.  You  are  not  to  suffer  any  publick  Money  whatso- 
ever, to  be  issued  or  disposed  of  otherwise  than  by  War- 
rant under  your  Hand,  by  and  with  the  Advice  and  Con- 
sent of  our  said  Council ;  but  the  Assembly  my  be  never- 
theless permitted  from  Time  to  Time  to  view  and  examine 
the  Accounts  of  Money,  or  value  of  Money,  disposed  of  by 
Virtue  of  Laws  made  by  them,  which  you  are  to  signify 
unto  them  as  there  shall  be  occasion. 

29.  And  it  is  our  express  Will  and  Pleasure,  that  no 
Law  for  raising  any  Imposition  on  Wines  or  other  strong 
Liquors,  be  made  to  continue  for  less  than  one  whole 
Year :  as  also  that  all  Laws  whatsoever  for  the  good  Gov- 
ernment and  support  of  our  said  Province,  be  made  indi- 
finite,  and  without  Limitation  of  Time,  except  the  same  be 
for  a  temporary  End,  which  shall  expire  and  have  its  full 
effect  within  a  certain  Time. 

30.  And  therefore  you  shall  not  re-enact  any  Law 
which  shall  have  been  once  enacted  there  by  you,  except 
upon  very  urgent  Occasions,  but  in  no  case  more  than  once 
without  our  express  consent, 

3L  You  shall  not  permit  any  Act  or  Order  to  pass  in 
our  said  Province,  whereby  the  Price  or  Value  of  the  Cur- 
rent Coin  within  your  Government,  (whether  it  be  Foreign 
or  belonging  to  our  Dominions)  may  be  altered,  without 
our  particular  Leave  or  Direction  for  the  same. 


APPENDIX   B.  221 

32.  And  you  are  particularly  not  to  pass  any  Law  or 
do  any  Act,  by  Grant,  Settlement,  or  otherwise,  whereby 
our  Revenue,  after  it  shall  be  settled,  may  be  lessened  or 
impaired,  without  our  especial  leave  or  Commands  therein. 

33.  You  shall  not  remit  any  Fines  or  Forfeitures  what- 
soever, above  the  Sum  of  Ten  Pounds,  nor  dispose  of  any 
Escheats,  Fines  or  Forfeitures  whatsoever,  until  upon  sig- 
nifying unto  our  High  Treasurer,  or  to  our  Commissioners 
of  our  Treasury  for  the  Time  being,  and  to  our  Commis- 
sioners for  Trade  and  Plantations,  the  Nature  of  the  Offence 
and  the  Occasion  of  such  Fines,  Forfeitures  or  Escheats, 
with  the  particular  Sums  or  Value  thereof,  (which  you  are 
to  do  with  all  speed)  you  shall  have  received  our  Direc- 
tions therein,  but  you  may  in  the  mean  Time  suspend  the 
Payment  of  the  said  Fines  and  Forfeitures. 

34.  You  are  to  require  the  Secretary  of  our  said  Pro- 
vince, or  his  Deputy  for  the  Time  being,  to  furnish  you 
with  Transcripts  of  all  such  Acts  and  publick  Orders  as 
shall  be  made  from  Time  to  Time,  together  with  a  Copy  of 
the  Journals  of  the  Council,  to  the  End  the  same  may  be 
transmitted  unto  us,  and  to  our  Commissioners  for  Trade 
and  Plantations  as  above  directed,  which  he  is  duly  to  per- 
form upon  pain  of  incurring  the  forfeiture  of  his  Place. 

35.  You  are  also  to  require  from  the  Clerk  of  the  As- 
sembly, or  other  proper  Officer,  Transcripts  of  all  the 
Journals,  and  other  Proceedings  of  the  said  Assembly,  to 
the  End  the  same  may  in  like  manner  be  transmitted  as 
aforesaid. 

36.  Our  Will  and  Pleasure  is,  that  for  the  better  quiet- 
ing  the  Minds  of  our  good  Subjects,  Inhabitants  of  our  said 


222  APPENDIX    B. 

Province,  and  for  settling  the  Properties  and  Possessions 
of  all  Persons  concerned  therein,  either  as  General  Pro- 
prietors of  the  Soil  under  the  first  original  Grant  of  the 
said  Province,  made  by  the  late  King  Charles  the  Second, 
to  the  late  Duke  of  York,  or  as  particular  Purchasers  of 
any  Parcels  of  Land  from  the  said  General  Proprietors,  you 
shall  propose  to  the  General  Assembly  of  our  said  Pro- 
vince, the  passing  of  such  Act  or  Acts,  whereby  the  Right 
and  Property  of  the  said  General  Proprietors,  to  the  Soil  of 
our  said  Province,  may  be  confirmed  to  them,  according  to 
their  respective  Rights  and  Title ;  together  vi^ith  all  such 
Quit-Rents  as  have  been  reserved,  or  are  or  shall  become 
due  to  the  said  General  Proprietors,  from  the  Inhabitants 
of  our  said  Province ;  and  all  such  Priviledges  as  are  ex- 
prest  in  the  Conveyances  made  by  the  said  Duke  of  York, 
excepting  only  the  Right  of  Government,  vs^hich  remains 
in  us  :  And  you  are  further  to  take  care,  that  by  the  said 
Act  or  Acts  so  to  be  passed,  the  particular  Titles  and  Es- 
tates of  all  the  Inhabitants  of  that  Province,  and  other  Pur- 
chasers claiming  under  the  said  General  Proprietors,  be 
confirmed  and  settled  as  of  Right  does  appertain,  under 
such  Obligations  as  shall  tend  to  the  best  and  speediest  Im- 
provement or  Cultivation  of  the  same.  PROVIDED  AL- 
WAYS, that  you  do  not  consent  to  any  Act  or  Acts,  to 
lay  any  Tax  upon  Lands  that  lye  unprofitable. 

37.  You  shall  not  permit  any  other  Person  or  Persons 
beside  the  said  General  Proprietors,  or  their  Agents,  to 
Purchase  any  Land  whatsoever  from  the  Indians  within 
the  Limits  of  their  Grant. 

38.  You  are  to  permit  the  Surveyors  and  other  Per- 
sons appointed  by  the  forementioned  General  Proprietors 
of  the  Soil  of  that  Province,  for  Surveying  and  Recording 


APPENDIX    B.  223 

the  Surveys  of  Land  granted  by  and  held  of  them,  to  exe- 
cute accordingly  their  respective  Trusts :  And  you  are 
likewise  to  permit,  and  if  need  be,  aid  and  assist  such  other 
Agent  or  Agents,  as  shall  be  appointed  by  the  said  Pro- 
prietors for  that  End,  to  collect  and  receive  the  Quit- 
Rents  which  are  or  shall  be  due  unto  them,  from  the  parti- 
cular Possessors  of  any  Parcels  or  Tracts  of  Land  from 
Time  to  Time,  PROVIDED  ALWAYS,  that  such  Sur- 
veyors, Agents  or  other  Officers  appointed  by  the  said  Ge- 
neral Proprietors,  do  not  only  take  proper  Oaths,  for  the 
due  Execution  and  Performance  of  their  respective  Offices 
or  Employments,  and  give  good  and  sufficient  Security  for 
their  so  doing,  but  that  they  likewise  take  the  Oaths  ap- 
pointed by  Act  of  Parliament  to  be  taken  instead  of  the 
Oaths  of  Allegience  and  Supremacy,  and  the  Oath  men- 
tioned in  the  aforesaid  Act,  entitled,  An  Act  to  declare  the 
Alteration  in  the  Oath  appointed  to  he  taken  by  the  Act, 
entitled,  An  Act  for  the  further  Security  of  his  Majesty's 
Person,  and  the  Succession  of  the  Crown  in  the  Protestant 
Line,  and  for  extinguishing  the  hopes  of  the  pretended 
Prince  of  Wales,  and  all  other  Pretenders,  and  their  open 
and  Secret  Abettors,  and  for  declaring  the  Association  to 
be  determined.  As  also  the  forementioned  Test.  And  you 
are  more  particularly  to  take  care  that  all  Lands  Purchased 
from  the  said  Proprietors,  be  cultivated  and  improved,  by 
the  Possessors  thereof. 

.  39.  You  shall  transmit  unto  us,  and  to  our  Commission- 
ers for  Trade  and  Plantations,  by  the  first  Opportunity, 
a  Map  with  the  exact  Description  of  our  whole  Territory 
under  your  Government,  and  of  the  several  Plantations 
that  are  upon  it. 


224  APPENDIX    B. 

40.  You  are  likewise  to  send  a  List  of  Officers  em- 
ployed under  your  Government,  together  with  all  publick 
Charges. 

41.  You  shall  not  displace  any  of  the  Judges,  Justices, 
Sheriffs,  or  other  Officers  or  Ministers  within  our  said 
Province,  without  good  and  sufficient  Cause  to  be  signified 
unto  us,  and  to  our  said  Commissioners  for  Trade  and  Plan- 
tations, and  to  prevent  arbitrary  removal  of  Judges  and 
Justices  of  the  Peace,  you  shall  not  express  any  Limitation 
of  Time  in  the  Commissions  which  you  are  to  grant,  with 
the  Advice  and  Consent  of  the  Council  of  our  said  Pro- 
vince, to  Persons  fit  for  those  Imployments,  nor  shall  you 
execute  yourself,  or  by  Deputy,  any  of  the  said  Offices, 
nor  suffer  any  Persons  to  execute  more  Offices  than  one 
by  Deputy. 

42.  Whereas  we  are  given  to  understand  that  there  are 
several  Offices  within  our  said  Province  granted  under  the 
great  Seal  of  England,  and  that  our  Service  may  be  very 
much  prejudiced  by  reason  of  the  Absence  of  the  Pa- 
tentees, and  by  their  appointing  Deputies  not  fit  to  officiate 
in  their  stead,  you  are  therefore  to  inspect  the  said  Offices, 
and  to  inquire  into  the  Capacity  and  Behaviour  of  the  Per- 
sons now  exercising  them,  and  to  report  thereupon  to  us, 
and  to  our  Commissioners  for  Trade  and  Plantations,  what 
you  think  fit  to  be  done  or  altered  in  relation  thereunto ; 
and  you  are  upon  the  misbehaviour  of  any  of  the  said  Pa- 
tentees, or  their  Deputies,  to  suspend  them  from  the  Exe- 
cution of  their  Places,  till  you  shall  have  represented  the 
whole  matter  and  received  our  Directions  therein ;  but  you 
shall  not  by  colour  of  any  Power  or  Authority  hereby  or 
otherwise  granted  or  mentioned  to  be  granted  unto  you, 
take  upon  you  to  give,  grant  or  dispose  of  any  Office  or 


APPENDIX   B.  225 

Place  within  our  said  Province,  which  now  is  or  shall  be 
granted  under  the  Great  Seal  o^  England,  and  further  then 
that  you  may  upon  the  vacancy  of  any  such  Office  or 
Place,  or  Suspension  of  any  such  Officer  by  you  as  afore- 
said, put  in  any  fit  Person  to  officiate  in  the  Intervall  till 
you  shall  have  represented  the  Matter  unto  us,  and  to  our 
Commissioners  for  Trade  and  Plantations  as  aforesaid 
(which  you  are  to  do  by  the  first  opportunity)  and  till  the 
said  Office  or  Place  be  disposed  of  by  us,  our  Heirs  or 
Successors,  under  the  Great  Seal  of  England,  or  that  our 
further  Directions  be  given  therein. 

43.  In  Case  of  any  Goods,  Money  or  other  Estate  of 
Pirates,  or  Piratically  taken,  shall  be  brought  in,  or  found 
within  our  said  Province  of  Nova-Ccesaria,  or  New-Jersey, 
or  taken  on  Board  any  Ships  or  Vessels,  you  are  to  cause 
the  same  to  be  seized  and  secured  until  you  shall  have 
given  us  an  Account  thereof,  and  receive  our  Pleasure  con- 
cerning the  disposal  of  the  same :  But  in  case  such  Goods 
or  any  part  of  them  are  perishable,  the  same  shall  be  pub- 
lickly  sold  and  disposed  of,  and  the  produce  thereof  in  like 
manner  secured  until  our  further  Orders. 

44.  And  wheveas  Commissions  have  been  granted  unto 
several  Persons  in  our  respective  Plantations  in  America, 
for  the  trying  of  Pirates  in  those  Parts,  pursuant  to  the  Act 
for  the  more  effectual  Suppression  of  Piracy,  and  by  a 
Commission  already  sent  to  our  Province  of  New-Yoi'k, 
you  (as  Captain  General  and  Governor  in  Chief  of  our  said 
Province  of  New-York)  are  impowered,  together  with 
others  therein  mentioned,  to  proceed  accordingly  in  refer- 
ence to  our  Provinces  of  New-  York,  New- Jersey,  and  Con- 
necticut ;  our  Will  and  Pleasure  is,  that  in  all  Matters  re- 
lating to  Pirates,  you  Govern  yourself  according  to  the 

15 


226  APPENDIX    B. 

intent  of  the  Act  and  Commission  aforementioned  ;  but 
whereas  Accessories  in  Cases  of  Piracy  beyond  the  Seas, 
are  by  the  same  Act  left  to  be  tryed  in  England,  accord- 
ing to  the  Statute  of  the  Second  of  King  Henry  the  Eighth, 
We  do  hereby  further  direct  and  require  you  to  send  all 
such  accessories  in  Cases  of  Piracy  in  our  aforesaid  Pro- 
vince of  Nova-CcBsarea,  or  New- Jersey,  with  the  Proper 
Evidences  that  you  may  have  against  them,  into  England, 
in  order  to  their  being  tryed  here. 

45.  You  shall  not  erect  any  Court  or  Office  of  Judica- 
ture, not  before  erected  or  established,  without  our  espe- 
cial Order. 

46.  You  are  to  transmit  unto  us,  and  to  our  Commis- 
sioners for  Trade  and  Plantations,  with  all  convenient 
speed,  a  particular  account  of  all  Establishments  of  Juris- 
dictions, Courts,  Offices,  and  Officers,  Powers,  Authorities, 
Fees,  and  Privileges  which  shall  be  granted  or  settled  within 
the  said  Province,  by  Virtue,  and  in  pursuance  of  our  Com- 
mission and  Instructions  to  you  our  Captain  General  and 
Governor  in  chief  of  the  same,  to  the  End  you  may  re- 
ceive our  further  Directions  therein. 

47.  And  you  are  with  the  Advice  and  Consent  of  our 
said  Council,  to  take  especial  care,  to  regulate  all  Salaries 
and  Fees  belonging  to  Places,  or  paid  upon  Emergencies, 
that  they  may  be  within  the  Bounds  of  Moderation,  and 
that  no  Exaction  be  made  on  any  Occasion  whatsoever ; 
as  also  that  Tables  of  all  Fees  be  publickly  hung  up  in  all 
Places  where  such  Fees  are  to  be  paid ;  and  you  are  to 
transmit  Copies  of  all  such  Tables  of  Fees  to  us,  and  to  our 
Commissioners  for  Trade  and  Plantations  as  aforesaid. 


APPENDIX    B.  227 

48.  Whereas  it  is  necessary  that  our  Rights  and  Dues 
be  preserved  and  recovered,  and  that  speedy  and  effectual 
Justice  be  administered  in  all  Cases  relating  to  our  Reve- 
nue, you  are  to  take  Care  that  a  Court  of  Exchequer  be 
called  and  do  meet  at  all  such  Times  as  shall  be  needfull, 
and  you  are  to  inform  us  and  our  Commissioners  for  Trade 
and  Plantations,  whether  our  Service  may  require,  that  a 
constant  Court  of  Exchequer  be  settled  and  established 
there. 

49.  You  are  to  take  Care  that  no  Man's  Life,  Member, 
Freehold,  or  Goods  be  taken  aw^ay  or  harmed  in  our  said 
Province,  otherwise  then  by  established  and  known  Laws, 
not  repugnant  to,  but  as  much  as  may  be  agreeable  to  the 
Laws  of  England. 

50.  You  shall  administer,  or  cause  to  be  administered, 
the  Oaths  appointed  by  Act  of  Parliament  to  be  taken  in- 
stead of  the  Oaths  of  Allegiance  and  Supremacy,  and  the 
Oath  mentioned  in  the  aforesaid  Act,  entitled.  An  Act  to 
declare  the  Alteration  in  the  Oath  appointed  to  he  taken,  by 
the  Act,  entitled,  An  Act  for  the  further  Security  of  his 
Majesty's  Person,  and  the  Succession  of  the  Crown  in  the 
Protestant  Line  and  for  extinguishing  the  hopes  of  the 
pretended  Prince  of  Wales,  and  all  other  Pretenders,  and 
their  open  and  Secret  Abettors,  and  for  declaring  the  As- 
sociation to  be  determined,  as  also  the  forementioned  Test, 
to  the  Members  and  Officers  of  the  Council  and  Assembly, 
and  to  all  Judges,  Justices,  and  all  other  Persons  that  hold 
any  Office  or  Place  of  Ti-ust  or  Profit  in  the  said  Province, 
whether  by  Virtue  of  any  Patent  under  our  Great  Seal  of 
England,  or  otherwise,  without  which  you  are  not  to  ad- 
mit any  Person  whatsoever  into  any  publick  Office,  nor 
suffer  those  who  have  been  admitted  formerly  to  continue 
therein. 


228  APPENDIX   B. 

51.  You  are  to  permit  a  Liberty  of  Conscience  to  all 
Persons  (except  Papists)  so  they  may  be  contented  with  a 
quiet  and  peaceable  Enjoyment  of  the  same,  not  giving 
Offence  or  Scandal  to  the  Government. 

52.  And  whereas  we  have  been  informed  that  divers 
of  our  good  Subjects  inhabiting  those  Parts,  do  make  a  re- 
ligious scruple  of  Swearing,  and  by  Reason  of  their  refus- 
ing to  take  an  Oath  in  Courts  of  Justice  and  other  Places, 
are  or  may  be  liable  to  many  inconveniencies,  our  Will 
and  Pleasure  is,  that  in  Order  to  their  ease  in  what  they 
conceive  to  be  matter  of  Conscience,  so  far  as  may  be  con- 
sistent with  good  Order  and  Government,  you  take  Care 
that  an  Act  be  passed  in  the  General  Assembly  of  our  said 
Province,  to  the  like  effect  as  that  past  here  in  the  7th  and 
8th  Year  of  his  Majesty's  Reign,  entitled.  An  Act,  that  the 
Solemn  Affirmation  and  Declaration  of  the  People  called 
Quakers,  shall  be  accepted,  instead  of  an  Oath  in  the  usual 
form,  and  that  the  same  be  transmitted  to  us,  and  to  our 
Commissioners  for  Trade  and  Plantations  as  before  di- 
rected. 

53.  And  whereas  we  have  been  further  informed,  that 
in  the  first  Settlement  of  the  Government  of  our  said  Pro- 
vince, it  may  so  happen  that  the  Number  of  Inhabitants 
fitly  qualified  to  serve  in  our  Council,  in  the  General  As- 
sembly, and  in  other  Places  of  Trust  or  Profit  there,  will 
be  but  small ;  it  is  therefore  our  Will  and  Pleasure,  that 
such  of  the  said  People  called  Quakers,  as  shall  be  found 
capable  of  any  of  those  Places  or  Employments,  and  ac- 
cordingly be  elected  or  appointed  to  serve  therein,  may 
upon  their  taking  and  signing  the  Declaration  of  Allegi- 
ance, to  us  in  the  form  used  by  the  same  People  here  in 
England,  together  with  a  Solemn  Declaration  for  true  dis- 


APPENDIX    B.  229 

charge  of  their  respective  Trusts,  be  admitted  by  you  into 
any  of  the  said  Places  or  Employments. 

You  shall  send  an  Account  unto  us,  and  to  our  Com- 
missioners for  Trade  and  Plantations,  of  the  present  Num- 
ber of  Planters  and  Inhabitants,  Men,  Women  and  Chil- 
dren, as  well  Masters  as  Servants,  free  and  unfree,  and  of 
the  Slaves  in  our  said  Province,  as  also  a  Yearly  account 
of  the  Increase  or  Decrease  of  them,  and  how  many  of 
them  are  fit  to  bear  Arms  in  the  Militia  of  our  said 
Province. 

You  shall  also  cause  an  Account  to  be  kept  of  all  Per- 
sons Born,  Christened  and  Buried,  and  you  shall  Yearly 
send  fair  abstracts  thereof  to  us,  and  to  our  Commissioners 
for  Trade  and  Plantations  as  aforesaid. 

You  shall  take  care  that  all  Planters  and  Christian  Ser- 
vants, be  well  and  fitly  provided  with  Arms,  and  that  they 
be  listed  under  good  Officers,  and  when,  and  as  often  as 
shall  be  thought  fit.  Mustered  and  Trained,  whereby  they 
may  be  in  a  better  readiness  for  the  Defence  of  our  said 
Province  under  your  Government,  and  you  are  to  endea- 
vour to  get  an  Act  past,  (if  not  already  done)  for  appor- 
tioning the  number  of  white  Servants  to  be  kept  by  every 
Planter. 

You  are  to  take  especial  care,  that  neither  the  fre- 
quency, nor  unreasonableness  of  their  Marches,  Musters, 
and  Trainings,  be  an  unnecessary  Impediment  to  the  affairs 
of  the  Inhabitants. 

You  shall  not,  upon  any  Occasion  whatsoever,  estab- 
lish, or  put  in  Execution  any  Articles  of  War,  or  other 


230  APPENDIX    B. 

Law  Martial,  upon  any  of  our  Subjects,  Inhabitants  of  our 
said  Province,  without  the  Advice  and  consent  of  our 
Council  there. 

And  whereas  there  is  no  Power  given  you  by  your 
Commission,  to  execute  Martial  Law  in  Time  of  Peace 
upon  Soldiers  in  pay,  and  that  nevertheless  it  may  be  Ne- 
cessary that  some  care  be  taken  for  the  keeping  of  good 
Discipline  amongst  those,  that  we  may  at  any  Time  think 
fit  to  send  into  our  said  Province,  (which  may  properly  be 
provided  for  by  the  Legislative  Power  of  the  same)  you  are 
therefore  to  recommend  to  the  General  Assembly  of  our 
said  Province,  that  they  prepare  such  Act  or  Law  for  the 
Punishing  of  Mutiny,  Desertion,  and  false  Musters,  and  for 
the  better  preserving  of  good  discipline  amongst  the  said 
Soldiers,  as  may  best  answer  those  Ends, 

And  whereas  upon  Complaints  that  have  been  made  of 
the  irregular  Proceedings  of  the  Captains  of  some  of  our 
Ships  of  War,  in  the  pressing  of  Seamen  in  several  of  our 
Plantations,  we  have  thought  fit  to  order,  and  have  given 
Directions  to  our  High  Admiral  accordingly,  that  when 
any  Captain  or  Commander  of  any  of  our  Ships  of  War,  in 
any  of  our  said  Plantations,  shall  have  Occasion  for  Sea- 
men to  serve  on  board  of  Ships  under  their  Command, 
they  do  make  their  Applications  to  the  Governors,  and 
Commanders  in  Chief,  of  our  Plantations  respectively,  to 
whom,  as  Vice  Admirals,  we  are  pleased  to  commit  the  sole 
Power  of  impressing  Seamen  in  any  of  our  Plantations  in 
America,  or  in  sight  of  any  of  them ;  you  are  therefore 
hereby  required  upon  such  Application  made  to  you,  by 
any  of  the  Commanders  of  our  said  Ships  of  War  within 
our  Province  of  Nova-CcBsarea,  or  New- Jersey,  to  take 
care  that  our  said  Ships  of  War  be  furnished  with  a  num- 


APPENDIX    B,  231 

Der  of  Seamen  that  may  be  necessary  for  our  Service  on 
board  them  from  Time  to  Time. 

And  whereas  together  with  other  Powers  of  Vice  Ad- 
miralty, you  will  receive  Authority  from  our  dearest  Hus- 
band Prince  George  of  Denmark,  our  High  Admiral  of 
England,  and  of  our  Plantations,  upon  the  Refusal  or  Ne- 
glect of  any  Captain  or  Commander  of  any  of  our  Ships  of 
War,  to  execute  the  written  Orders  he  shall  receive  from 
you  for  our  Service,  and  the  Service  of  our  Province  un- 
der your  Government,  or  upon  his  negligent,  or  undue  exe- 
cution thereof,  to  suspend  him,  such  Captain  or  Command- 
er from  the  Exercise  of  his  said  Office  of  Captain  or  Com- 
mander, and  to  commit  him  into  safe  Custody,  either  on 
board  his  own  Ship  or  elsewhere,  at  your  Discretion,  in  or- 
der to  his  being  brought  to  answer  for  such  Refusal  or  Ne- 
glect, by  Commission  either  under  our  Great  Seal  of  Eng- 
land, or  from  our  High  Admiral,  or  our  Commissioners  for 
executing  the  Office  of  our  High  Admiral  of  England  for 
the  Time  being. 

And  whereas  you  will  likev,  ise  receive  Directions  from 
our  said  Dearest  Husband,  as  our  High  Admiral  of  Eng- 
land, and  of  our  Plantations,  that  the  Captain  or  Command- 
er, so  by  you  suspended,  shall  during  such  his  Suspension 
and  Commitment  be  succeeded  in  his  said  Office  by  such 
Commission  or  Warrant  Officer  of  our  said  Ship,  appointed 
by  our  said  High  Admiral  of  England,  or  by  our  Commis- 
sioners for  executing  the  Office  of  our  High  Admiral  of 
England  for  the  Time  being,  as  by  that  known  Practice 
and  Discipline  of  our  Navy,  does  and  ought  to  succeed  him 
next  as  in  case  of  Death,  Sickness,  or  other  ordinary  disa- 
bility happening  to  the  Commander  of  any  of  our  Ships  of 
War  and  not  otherwise ;  you  standing  also  accountable  for 


232  APPENDIX   B. 

the  Truth  and  Importance  of  the  Crime  and  Misdemea- 
nour, for  which  you  shall  so  proceed  to  the  suspending  of 
such  our  Captain  or  Commander ;  you  are  not  to  exercise 
the  said  Power  of  suspending  any  such  Captains  or  Com- 
manders of  our  Ships  of  War,  otherwise  then  by  virtue  of 
such  Commission  or  Authority  from  our  said  High  Admi- 
ral ;  any  former  Custom  or  Usage  notwithstanding. 

Whereas  it  is  absolutely  necessary,  that  we  be  exactly 
informed  of  the  State  of  Defence  of  all  our  Plantations  in 
America,  as  well  in  relation  to  the  Stores  of  War,  that  are 
in  each  Plantation,  as  to  the  Forts  and  Fortifications  there, 
and  what  more  may  be  necessary  to  be  built  for  the  De- 
fence and  Security  of  the  same,  you  are  so  soon  as  possible 
to  prepare  an  Account  thereof,  with  relation  to  our  said 
Province  of  Nova- Caesar ea,  or  New- Jersey,  in  the  most 
particular  manner ;  and  you  are  therein  to  express  the  pre- 
sent state  of  the  Arms,  Ammunition  and  other  Stores  of 
War,  either  in  any  publick  Magazines,  or  in  the  Hands  of 
private  Persons,  together  with  the  state  of  all  Places  either 
already  fortified,  or  that  you  judge  necessary  to  be  fortified 
for  the  Security  of  our  said  Province  ;  and  you  are  to 
transmit  the  said  Account  to  us,  and  to  our  Commissioners 
for  Trade  and  Plantations  by  the  first  opportunity,  and 
other  like  Accounts  Yearly  in  the  same  Manner. 

And  that  we  may  be  the  better  informed  of  the  Trade 
of  our  said  Province,  you  are  to  take  especial  care  that  due 
Entries  be  made  in  all  Ports  in  our  said  Province,  of  all 
Goods  and  Commodities,  their  Species  or  Quantities  Im- 
ported or  Exported  from  thence,  with  the  Names,  Burden, 
and  Guns  of  all  Ships  importing  and  exporting  the  same, 
also  the  Names  of  their  Commanders,  and  likwise  express- 
ing from  and  to  what  Places  the  said  Ships  do  come  and 


APPENDIX    B.  233 

go,  a  Copy  whereof  the  Naval  Officer  is  to  furnish  you 
with,  and  you  are  to  transmit  the  same  unto  us,  our  High 
Treasurer  or  our  Commissioners  of  our  Treasury  for  the 
Time  being,  and  to  our  Commissioners  for  Trade  and  Plan- 
tations Quarterly,  and  Duplicates  thereof  by  the  next  con- 
'Veyance. 

And  whereas  great  losses  have  been  sustained  by  our 
Subjects,  Trading  to  our  Plantations  in  America,  by  Ships 
sailing  from  those  Parts  without  Convoy,  or  without  the 
Company  of  other  Ships,  which  might  protect  them  from 
our  Enemies,  by  which  means  many  of  them  have  been 
taken  by  the  French  in  their  return  to  England ;  to  the 
end  therefore  the  Ships  of  our  Subjects  may  be  the  better 
secured  in  their  return  home,  you  are  to  take  care  that  dur- 
ing this  Time  of  War,  no  Ships  Trading  to  our  Province 
of  Nova-CcBsarea,  or  New- Jersey,  be  permitted  to  come 
from  thence  to  England,  but  in  Fleets,  or  under  Convoy 
or  Protection  of  some  of  our  Ships  of  War,  or  at  such  a 
Time  as  you  shall  receive  Notice  from  hence,  of  their 
meeting  such  Convoys,  as  may  be  appointed  for  the  bring- 
ing them  safe  to  some  of  our  Ports  in  this  Kingdom  ;  and 
in  case  of  any  Danger,  you  are  to  expect  Directions  from 
hence,  what  Precautions  shall  be  further  necessary  for  their 
Security. 

You  are  likewise  to  examine  what  Rates  and  Duties 
are  charged  and  payable  upon  any  Goods  Imported  or  Ex- 
ported within  our  Province  of  Nova-Ccesarea,  or  New- 
Jersey,  whether  of  the  Growth  or  Manufacture  of  the  said 
Province  or  otherwise,  and  to  use  your  best  endeavours 
for  the  Improvement  of  the  Trade  in  those  Parts. 

And  whereas  Orders  have  been  given  for  the  Commis- 
sionating  of  fit  Persons  to  be  Officers  of  our  Admiralty 


234  APPENDIX    B. 

and  Customs  in  our  several  Plantations  in  America ;  and  it 
is  of  great  importance  to  the  Trade  of  this  Kingdom,  and 
to  the  Welfare  of  all  our  Plantations,  that  illegal  Trade  be 
every  where  discouraged.  You  are  therefore  to  take  espe- 
cial care,  that  the  Acts  of  Trade  and  Navigation  be  duly- 
put  in  Execution ;  and  in  Order  thereunto,  you  are  to  give 
constant  Protection  and  all  due  Encouragement  to  the  said 
Officers  of  our  Admiralty  and  Customs,  in  the  Execution 
of  their  respective  Offices  and  Trust  within  our  Territo- 
ries under  your  Government. 

You  are  from  Time  to  Time  to  give  an  Account  as  be- 
fore directed,  what  Strength  your  bordering  Neighbours 
have,  be  they  Indians  or  others,  by  Sea  and  Land,  and  of 
the  Condition  of  their  Plantations,  and  what  Correspond- 
ence you  do  keep  with  them. 

You  shall  take  especial  care,  that  God  Almighty  be  de- 
voutly and  duly  served  throughout  your  Government,  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer  as  by  Law  established  read  each 
Sunday,  and  Holy-day,  and  the  Blessed  Sacrament  admin- 
istered according  to  the  Rights  of  the  Church  of  England. 

You  shall  be  careful  that  the  Churches  already  built 
there,  be  well  and  orderly  kept,  and  that  more  be  built,  as 
the  Colony  shall  by  God's  blessing  be  improved  ;  and  that 
besides  a  competent  maintainance  to  be  assigned  to  tlie 
Minister  of  each  Orthodox  Church,  a  convenient  House  be 
built  at  the  common  Charge  for  each  Minister,  and  a  com- 
petent Proportion  of  Land,  assigned  to  him,  for  a  Glebe 
and  exercise  of  his  industry. 

And  you  are  to  take  care,  that  the  Parishes  be  so  limit- 
ted  and  settled,  as  you  shall  find  most  convenient,  for  the 
accomplishing  this  good  Work. 


APPENDIX   B.  235 

You  are  not  to  prefer  any  Minister  to  any  ecclesiastical 
Benefice  in  that  our  Province,  without  a  Certificate  from 
the  Right  Reverend  Father  in  God  the  Lord  Bishop  of 
London,  of  his  being  conformable  to  the  Doctrine  and  Dis- 
cipline of  the  Church  of  England,  and  of  a  good  Life  and 
Conversation  :  And  if  any  Person  already  preferr'd  to  a 
Benefice  shall  appear  to  you,  to  give  scandal  either  by  his 
Doctrine  or  Manners,  you  are  to  use  the  best  means  for  the 
Removal  of  him,  and  to  supply  the  Vacancy  in  such  man- 
ner as  we  have  directed. 

You  are  to  give  Order,  that  every  Orthodox  Minister 
within  your  Government,  be  one  of  the  Vestry  in  his  re- 
spective Parish,  and  that  no  Vestry  be  held  without  him, 
except  in  case  of  Sickness,  or  that  after  the  Notice  of  a 
Vestry  summon'd,  he  omit  to  come. 

You  are  to  enquire  whether  there  be  any  Minister 
within  your  Government,  who  preaches  and  administers  the 
Sacrament  in  any  Orthodox  Church  or  Chappel,  without 
being  in  due  Orders,  and  to  give  account  thereof  to  the 
said  Lord  Bishop  of  London. 

And  to  the  End  the  Ecclesiastical  Jurisdiction  of  the 
said  Lord  Bishop  of  London,  may  take  Place  in  our  said 
Province,  so  far  as  conveniently  may  be,  we  do  think  fit 
that  you  give  all  Countenance  and  encouragement  to  the 
Exercise  of  the  same,  excepting  only  the  collating  to  Bene- 
fices, granting  Licences  for  Marriages,  and  Probate  of 
Wills,  which  we  have  reserved  to  you  our  Governor,  and 
the  Commander  in  Chief  of  said  Province  for  the  Time 
being. 

And  you  are  to  take  especial  Care  that  a  Table  of  Mar- 
riages established  by  the  Canons  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 


236  APPENDIX    B. 

land,  be  hung  up  in  every  Orthodox  Church,  and  duly  ob- 
served, and  you  are  to  endeavour  to  get  a  Law  passed  in 
the  Assembly  of  our  said  Province,  (if  not  already  done,) 
for  the  strict  Observation  of  the  said  Table. 

You  are  to  take  care  that  Drunkenness  and  Debauche- 
ry, Swearing  and  Blasphemy,  be  discountenanced  and  pun- 
ished :  And  for  the  further  discountenance  of  Vice,  and 
Encouragement  of  Virtue  and  good  living,  (that  by  such 
example  the  Infidels  may  be  invited  and  Desire  to  partake 
of  the  Christian  Religion)  you  are  not  to  admit  any  Person 
to  publick  Trusts  and  Employments  in  our  said  Province, 
under  your  Government,  whose  ill  Fame  and  Conversation 
may  occasion  Scandal. 

You  are  to  suppress  the  engrossing  of  Commodities  as 
tending  to  the  prejudice  of  that  freedom  which  Commerce 
and  Trade  ought  to  have,  and  to  settle  such  Orders  and 
Regulations  therein,  with  the  Advice  of  the  Council,  as 
may  be  most  conducive  to  the  Benefit  and  Improvement  of 
that  Colony. 

You  are  to  give  all  due  Encouragement  and  Invitation 
to  Merchants  and  others,  who  shall  bring  Trade  unto  our 
said  Province,  or  any  way  contribute  to  the  advantage 
thereof,  and  in  particular  the  Royal  African  Company  of 
England. 

And  whereas  we  are  willing  to  recommend  unto  the 
said  Company,  that  the  said  Province  may  have  a  constant 
and  sufficient  supply  of  Merchantable  Negroes,  at  moderate 
Rates,  in  Money  or  Commodities,  so  you  are  to  take  espe- 
cial Care,  that  Payment  be  duly  made,  and  within  a  com- 
petent time  according  to  their  Agreements. 


APPENDIX    B.  237 

And  you  are  to  take  care  that  there  be  no  trading  from 
our  said  Province  to  any  Place  in  Africa,  within  the  Char- 
ter of  the  Royal  African  Company,  otherwise  than  pre- 
scribed by  an  Act  of  Parliament,  entitled.  An  Act  to  settle 
the  Tirade  to  Africa. 

And  you  are  Yearly  to  give  unto  us,  and  to  our  Com- 
missioners for  Trade  and  Plantations,  an  Account  of  what 
Number  of  Negroes,  our  said  Province  is  yearly  supplyed 
with,  and  at  what  Rates. 

You  are  likewise  from  Time  to  Time,  to  give  unto  us, 
and  to  our  Commissioners  for  Trade  and  Plantations  as 
aforesaid,  an  account  of  the  Want  and  Defects  of  our  said 
Province,  what  are  the  chief  Products  thereof,  what  new 
Improvements  are  made  therein  by  the  Industry  of  the  In- 
habitants or  Planters,  and  what  further  Improvements  you 
conceive  may  be  made,  or  Advantages  gained  by  Trade, 
and  in  what  manner  we  may  best  advance  the  same. 

You  are  not  to  grant  Commissions  of  Marque  or  Re- 
prizals,  against  any  Prince  or  State,  or  their  Subjects  in 
Amity  with  us,  to  any  Person  whatsoever  without  our  es- 
pecial Command. 

Our  Will  and  Pleasure  is,  that  Appeals  be  made  in 
Cases  of  Error  from  the  Courts  in  our  said  Province  of 
Nova-  Ccesarea,  or  New- Jersey,  unto  you  and  the  Council 
there  ;  and  in  your  absence  from  our  said  Province,  to  our 
Commander  in  Chief  for  the  Time  being,  and  our  said 
Council,  in  civil  Causes,  wherein  such  of  our  said  Council 
as  shall  be  at  that  Time  Judges  of  the  Court  from  whence 
such  Appeal  shall  be  made  to  you  our  Governor,  and  Coun- 
cil, or  to  the  Commander  in  Chief  for  the  Time  being,  and 


238  APPENDIX    B. 

Council  as  aforesaid,  shall  not  be  admitted  to  vote  upon 
the  said  Appeal,  but  they  may  nevertheless  be  present  at 
the  hearing  thereof,  to  give  the  Reasons  of  the  Judgment 
given  by  them,  in  the  Cause  wherein  such  Appeal  shall  be 
made.  PROVIDED  NEVERTHELESS,  that  in  all 
such  Appeals,  the  Sum  or  Value  appealed  for  exceed  one 
Hundred  Pounds  Sterling,  and  that  Security  be  first  duly 
given  by  the  Appellant  to  Answer  such  Charges  as  shall  be 
awarded  in  Case  the  first  Sentence  be  affirmed. 

And  if  either  Party  shall  not  rest  satisfyed  with  the 
Judgment  of  you,  or  the  Commander  in  Chief  for  the  Time 
being,  and  Council  as  aforesaid,  Our  Will  and  Pleasure  is, 
that  they  may  then  appeal  unto  us,  in  our  privy  Council, 
provided  the  Sum  or  Value  so  appealed  for  unto  us,  do  ex- 
ceed two  Hundred  Pounds  Sterling,  and  that  such  Appeal 
be  made  within  Fourteen  Days  after  Sentence  ;  and  that 
good  Security  be  given  by  the  Appellant,  that  he  will  ef- 
fectually prosecute  the  same,  and  answer  the  Condemna- 
tion, as  also  pay  such  Costs  and  Damages  as  shall  be 
awarded  by  us,  in  case  the  Sentence  of  you,  or  the  Com- 
mander in  Chief  for  the  Time  being,  and  Council,  be  af- 
firmed. And  Provided  also,  that  Execution  be  not  sus- 
pended by  reason  of  any  such  Appeal  to  us. 

You  are  also  to  permit  Appeals  to  us  in  Council,  in  all 
Cases  of  Fines  imposed  for  Misdemeanours ;  provided  the 
Fines  so  imposed,  amount  to  or  exceed  the  value  of  two 
Hundred  Pounds,  the  Appeallant  first  giving  good  Se- 
curity, that  he  will  effectually  Prosecute  the  same,  and  An- 
swer the  Condemnation,  if  the  Sentence  by  which  such 
Fine  was  imposed  in  our  said  Province  of  Nova-Ccesarea, 
or  New- Jersey,  shall  be  confirmed. 


APPENDIX    B.  239 

You  are  for  the  better  Administration  of  Justice,  to  en- 
deavour to  get  a  Law  passed  (if  not  already  done)  wiierein 
shall  be  set  the  value  of  Men's  Estates,  either  in  Goods  or 
Lands,  under  which  they  shall  not  be  capable  of  serving  as 
Jurors. 

You  shall  endeavour  to  get  a  Law  past  for  the  restrain- 
ing of  any  inhuman  Severity,  which  by  ill  Masters  or 
Overseers,  may  be  used  towards  their  Christian  Servants, 
and  their  Slaves,  and  that  Provision  be  made  therein,  that 
the  wilfull  killing  of  Indians  and  Negroes  may  be  punished 
with  Death,  and  that  a  fit  Penalty  be  imposed  for  the 
maiming  of  them. 

You  are  also  with  the  Assistance  of  the  Council  and 
Assembly,  to  find  out  the  best  means  to  facilitate  and  en- 
courage the  Conversion  of  Negroes  and  Indians,  to  the 
Christian  Religion. 

You  are  to  endeavour  with  the  Assistance  of  the  Coun- 
cil, to  provide  for  the  raising  of  Stocks,  and  building  of 
publick  Work-houses,  in  convenient  Places,  for  the  em- 
ploying of  poor  and  indigent  people. 

You  are  to  propose  an  Act  to  be  past  in  the  Assembly, 
whereby  the  Creditors  of  Persons  becoming  Bankrupts  in 
England,  and  having  Estates  in  our  aforesaid  Province  of 
New-Jersey,  may  be  relieved  and  satisfied  for  the  Debts 
owing  them. 

You  are  to  encourage  the  Indians  upon  all  Occasions 
so  as  they  may  apply  themselves  to  the  English  Trade  and 
Nation,  rather  than  to  any  other  of  Europe. 


240  APPENDIX    B. 

And  whereas  the  preservation  of  the  Northern  Fron- 
tiers of  our  Province  of  New-York,  against  the  Attempts 
of  any  Enemy  by  Land,  is  of  great  Importance  to  the  Se- 
curity of  our  Northern  Plantations  on  the  Continent  of 
America,  and  more  especially  of  our  said  Province  of  New- 
Jersey,  which  lyes  so  near  adjoining  to  our  Province  of 
New-  York  ;  and  the  charge  of  erecting  and  repairing  the 
Fortifications,  and  of  maintaining  the  soldiers  necessary 
for  the  defence  of  the  same,  as  too  great  to  be  borne  by  the 
single  Province  of  New-York,  without  due  Contributions 
from  others  concerned  therein,  for  which  reason,  we  have 
upon  several  Occasions,  required  such  Contributions  to  be 
made,  and  accordingly  settled  a  quota  to  regulate  the  Pro- 
portions thereof;  you  are  therefore  to  take  further  Care,  to 
dispose  the  General  Assembly  of  our  said  Province  of  New- 
Jersey,  to  the  raising  of  such  other  Supplies,  as  are  or  may 
be  necessary  for  the  Defence  of  our  Province  of  New-  York, 
according  to  the  Signification  of  our  Will  and  Pleasure 
therein,  which  has  already  been  made  to  the  Inhabitants  of 
New-Jersey,  or  whifch  shall  at  any  Time  hereafter  be  made 
to  you  our  Governor,  or  to  the  Commander  in  Chief  of  our 
said  Province  for  the  Time  being. 

And  in  Case  of  any  Distress  of  any  of  our  Plantations, 
you  shall  upon  Application  of  the  respective  Governors  to 
you,  assist  them  with  what  aid  the  condition  and  safety  of 
your  Government  will  permit,  and  more  particularly  in 
case  our  Province  of  New-York,  be  at  any  Time  attacked 
by  an  Enemy,  the  Assistance  you  are  to  contribute  to- 
wards the  defence  thereof,  whether  in  Men  or  Money  is 
according  to  the  forementioned  Quota  or  Repartition 
which  has  already  been  signified  to  the  Inhabitants  of  our 
foresaid  Province  under  your  Government,  or  according  to 


APPENDIX    B.  241 

such  other  Regulation  as  we  shall  hereafter  make  in  that 
behalf,  and  signify  to  you  or  the  Commander  in  Chief  of  our 
said  Province,  for  the  Time  being. 

And  for  the  greater  Security  of  our  Province  of  New- 
Jersey,  you  are  to  appoint  fit  Officers  and  Commanders,  in 
the  several  Parts  of  the  Country  bordering  upon  the  In- 
dians, who  upon  any  Invasion  may  raise  Men  and  Arms 
to  oppose  them,  until  they  shall  receive  your  Directions 
therein. 

And  whereas  we  have  been  pleased  by  our  Commis- 
sion to  direct,  that  in  case  of  your  Death  or  Absence 
from  our  said  Province,  and  in  case  there  be  at  that  Time 
no  Person  upon  the  Place  commissionated  or  appointed 
by  us  to  be  our  Lieutenant  Governor,  or  Commander  in 
Chief,  the  then  present  Council  of  our  said  Province,  shall 
take  upon  them  the  Administration  of  the  Government, 
and  execute  our  said  Commission,  and  the  several  Powers 
and  Authorities  therein  contained  in  the  manner  therein 
directed ;  it  is  nevertheless  our  express  Will  and  Pleasure,, 
that  in  such  case  the  said  Council  shall  forbear  to  pass  any 
Acts,  but  what  are  immediately  necessary  for  the  Peace 
and  Welfare  of  our  said  Province,  without  our  particular 
Order  for  that  Purpose. 

You  are  to  take  care  that  all  Writs  be  issued  in  our 
Name  throughout  our  said  Province. 

Forasmuch  as  great  Inconveniencies  may  arise  by  the 
Liberty  of  Printing  in  our  said  Province,  you  are  to  pro- 
vide by  all  necessary  Orders,  that  no  Person  keep  any 
Press  for  printing,  nor  that  any  Book,  Pamphlet  or  other 
16 


242  APPENDIX    B. 

Matters    whatsoever    be    printed    without    your    especial 
Leave  and  Licence  first  obtained. 

And  if  any  thing  shall  happen  that  may  be  of  advan- 
tage and  security  to  our  said  Province,  which  is  not  herein, 
or  by  our  Commission  to  you  provided  for,  we  do  hereby 
allow  unto  you,  with  the  Advice  and  Consent  of  our  Coun- 
cil of  our  said  Province,  to  take  order  for  the  present  there- 
in, giving  unto  us  by  one  of  our  Principal  Secretaries  of 
State,  and  to  our  Commissioners  for  Trade  and  Planta- 
tions, speedy  Notice  thereof,  that  so  you  may  receive  our 
Ratification  if  we  shall  approve  of  the  same. 

PROVIDED  ALWAYS,  that  you  do  not  by  any  co- 
lour of  any  Power  or  Authority  hereby  given  you.  Com- 
mence or  Declare  War,  without  our  Knowledge  and  parti- 
cular Commands  therein,  except  it  be  against  Indians,  upon 
emergencies,  wherein  the  consent  of  our  Council  shall  be 
had,  and  speedy  Notice  given  thereof  unto  us  as  aforesaid. 

And  you  are  upon  all  occasions  to  send  unto  us  by  one 
of  our  principal  Secretaries  of  State,  and  to  our  Commis- 
sioners for  Trade  and  Plantations,  a  particular  account  of 
all  your  Proceedings  and  of  the  Condition  of  Affairs  within 
your  Government. 

And  whereas  the  Lords  Spiritual  and  Temporal  in  Par- 
liament,  upon  Consideration  of  the  great  abuses  practised  in 
the  Plantation  Trade,  did  by  an  humble  Address  represent  to 
his  late  Majesty,  the  great  Importance  it  is  of  both  to  this 
our  Kingdom  and  to  our  Plantations  in  America,  that  the 
many  good  Laws  which  have  been  made  for  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  said  Plantations,  and  particularly  the  Act  pass- 
ed in  the  seventh  and  eighth  Years  of  his  said  Majesty's 


APPENDIX    B.  243 

Reign,  entitled,  An  Act  for  preventing  Frauds,  and  regu- 
lating abuses  in  the  Plantation  Trade,  be  strictly  observed. 
You  are  therefore  to  take  Notice,  that  whereas  notwith- 
standing the  many  good  Laws  made  from  Time  to  Time, 
for  preventing  Frauds  in  the  Plantation  Trade,  it  is  never- 
theless manifest,  that  very  great  Abuses  have  been  and 
continue  still  to  be  practised  to  the  prejudice  of  the  same ; 
which  abuses  must  needs  arise,  either  from  the  Insolvency 
of  the  Persons  who  are  accepted  for  the  Security,  or  from 
the  Remissness  or  Connivance  of  such  as  have  been  or  are 
Governors  in  the  Several  Plantations,  who  ought  to  take 
care  that  those  Persons  who  give  Bond  should  be  duly 
prosecuted,  in  case  of  non  performance  ;  we  take  the  good 
of  our  Plantations  and  the  Improvement  of  the  Trade 
thereof,  by  a  strict  and  punctual  observance  of  the  several 
Laws  in  force  concerning  the  same,  to  be  of  so  great  Im- 
portance to  the  Benefit  of  this  our  Kingdom,  and  to  the 
advancing  of  the  Duties  of  our  Customs  here,  that  if  we 
shall  be  hereafter  informed,  that  at  any  Time  there  shall 
be  any  failure  in  the  due  observance  of  those  Laws,  within 
our  foresaid  Province  of  Nova-Ccesarea,  or  New- Jersey 
by  any  willful  fault  or  neglect  on  your  Part,  we  shall  look 
upon  it  as  Breach  of  the  Trust  reposed  in  you  by  us, 
which  we  shall  punish  with  the  loss  of  your  Place  in  that 
Government,  and  such  further  Marks  of  our  Displeasure, 
as  we  shall  Judge  reasonable  to  be  inflicted  upon  you,  for 
your  Oflence  against  us,  in  a  Matter  of  this  consequence 
that  we  now  so  particularly  charge  you  with. 
A  True  Copy. 

Thomas  Hill,  Secretary. 


244  APPENDIX    B. 


LORD  CORNBURY'S  COMMISSION. 

ANNE  by  the  Grace  of  God  of  England,  Scotland, 
France  and  Ireland,  Queen,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  &c. 
To  our  Trusty  and  well  leloved,  Edward  Hyde,  Esquire, 
commonly  called  Lord  Cornhiry,  Greeting.  Whereas  in 
the  Government  of  that  Country,  which  was  formerly 
granted  by  King  Charles  the  Second,  under  the  Name  of 
Nova-CcBsarea,  or  New- Jersey,  and  which  has  since  been 
subdivided  by  the  Proprietors  and  called  East  New-Jersey, 
and  West  Neio  Jersey,  such  Miscarriages  have  happened 
that  the  said  Country  is  fallen  into  disorder  and  confusion, 
which  has  accordingly  been  represented  to  our  dearest 
Brother  the  late  King  in  several  Petitions,  Memorials  and 
other  Papers  signed  by  the  General  Proprietors  and  by 
great  numbers  of  the  Inhabitants ;  and  by  means  of  that 
disorder  the  publick  Peace  and  Administration  of  Justice, 
whereby  the  Properties  of  our  Subjects  should  be  pre- 
served there,  is  interrupted  and  violated,  and  the  Guard 
and  Defence  of  that  Country  so  totally  neglected,  that  the 
same  is  in  eminent  danger  of  being  lost  from  the  Crown  of 
England :  And  whereas  the  aforesaid  Proprietors  being 
sensible  that  the  said  Country  and  our  good  Subjects  the 
Inhabitants  thereof  cannot  be  defended  and  secured  by  any 
other  means  then  by  our  taking  the  Government  of  the 
same  under  our  immediate  Cai'e,  have  executed  and  made 
a  formal  and  entire  Surrender  of  their  Right  or  pretended 
Right  and  Title  to  the  Government  of  that  Country  unto 
us,  we  therefore  reposing  especial  trust  and  confidence  in 
the  Prudence,  Courage  and  Loyalty  of  you  the  said  Lord 
Cornhury,  out  of  our  especial  Grace,  certain  Knowledge 
and  mere  Motion,  have  thought  fit  to  constitute  and  ap- 


APPENDIX    B.  245 

point,  and  by  these  Presents  do  constitute  and  appoint  you 
the  said  Lord  Cornhury,  to  be  our  Captain  General  and 
Governor  in  Chief,  in  and  over  the  aforesaid  Country  of 
Nova-CcBsarea,  or  Neiu- Jersey,  viz.  the  Division  of  East 
and  West  Neio-Jersey,  in  America,  which  we  have  thought 
fit  to  reunite  into  one  Province,  and  settle  under  one  en- 
tire Government :  And  we  do  hereby  require  and  com- 
mand you  to  do  and  execute  all  Things  in  due  manner  that 
shall  belong  unto  your  said  Command,  and  the  trust  we 
have  reposed  in  you,  according  to  the  several  Powers  and 
Directions  granted  or  appointed  you  by  this  present  Com- 
mission, and  the  Instructions  and  Authorities  herewith 
given  you,  or  by  such  further  Powers,  Instructions  or  Au- 
thorities as  shall  at  any  Time  hereafter  be  granted,  or  ap- 
pointed you  under  our  Signet  and  Sign  Manual,  or  by  our 
Order  in  our  privy  Council,  and  according  to  such  reason- 
able Laws  and  Statutes  as  shall  be  made  and  agreed  upon 
by  you,  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Council  and 
Assembly  of  our  said  Province,  under  your  Government, 
in  such  manner  and  form  as  is  hereafter  expressed.  And 
our  Will  and  Pleasure  is,  that  you  the  said  Lord  Cornhury, 
having,  after  the  Proclamation  of  these  our  Letters  Patents, 
first  taken  the  Oaths  appointed  by  Act  of  Parliament  to  be 
taken  instead  of  the  Oath  of  Allegiance  and  Supremacy, 
and  the  Oath  mentioned  in  an  Act,  entitled.  An  Act  to  de- 
clare the  Alteration  in  the  Oath  appointed  to  he  taken,  by 
the  Act,  entitled.  An  Act  for  the  further  Secu7-ity  of  his 
Majesty's  Person,  and  the  Succession  of  the  Crown  in  the 
Protestant  Line,  and  for  the  extinguishing  the  hopes  of  the 
Pretended  Prince  of  Wales,  and  all  other  Pretenders  and 
their  open  and  secret  Abettors,  and  for  the  declaring  the 
Association  to  he  determined.  As  also  the  Test  mentioned 
in  the  Act  of  Parliament  made  in  the  Twenty-fifth  Year  of 


246  APPENDIX    B. 

the  Reign  of  King  Charles  the  Second,  entitled,  An  Act 
for  preventing  Dangers  which  may  happen  from  Popish 
Recusants,  together  with  the  Oath  for  the  due  Execution 
of  the  Office  and  Trust  of  our  Captain  General  and  Gov- 
ernor in  Chief,  in  and  over  our  said  Province  of  Nova- 
Ccesarea,  or  New- Jersey,  as  well  with  regard  to  the  equal 
and  impartial  Administration  of  Justice,  in  all  Causes  that 
shall  come  before  you,  as  otherwise,  and  likewise  the  Oath 
required  to  be  taken  by  Governors  of  Plantations,  to  do  the 
utmost  that  the  Laws  relating  to  the  Plantations  be  observ- 
ed ;  all  which  our  Council  in  our  said  Province,  or  any 
three  of  the  Members  thereof,  have  hereby  full  Power  and 
Authority,  and  are  required  to  administer  unto  you,  and  in 
your  absence  our  Lieutenant  Governor,  if  there  be  any 
upon  the  Place  :  you  shall  administer  unto  each  of  the 
Members  of  our  said  Council,  as  also  to  our  Lieutenant 
Governor,  if  there  be  any  upon  the  Place,  as  well  the 
Oath  appointed  by  the  Act  of  Parliament  to  be  taken  in- 
stead of  the  Oath  of  Allegiance  and  Supremacy,  and  the 
Oath  mentioned  in  the  said  Act,  entitled,  An  Act  to  declare 
the  Alteration  in  the  Oath  a'ppointed  to  he  taken  hy  an  Act, 
entitled.  An  Act  for  the  further  Security  of  his  Majesty's 
Person,  and  the  Succession  of  the  Crown  in  the  Protestant 
Line,  and  for  extinguishing  the  hopes  of  the  pretended 
Prince  of  Wales,  and  all  other  Pretenders,  and  their  open 
and  Secret  Abettors,  and  for  declaring  the  Association  to 
he  determined ;  as  the  forementioned  Test,  and  the  Oath 
for  the  due  execution  of  their  Places  and  Trusts.  And  we 
do  hereby  give  and  grant  unto  you,  full  Power  and  Autho- 
rity to  suspend  any  of  the  Members  of  our  said  Council 
from  sitting,  voting,  and  assisting  therein,  if  you  shall  see 
just  cause  for  so  doing  :  And  if  it  shall  at  any  Time  hap- 
pen that  by  the  Death,  Departure  out  of  our  said  Province, 


APPENDIX    B.  247 

or  Suspension  of  any  of  our  said  Councillors,  or  other- 
wise, there  shall  be  wanting  in  our  said  Council,  any  three 
whereof  we  do  appoint  to  be  a  Quorum,  Our  Will  and 
Pleasure  is,  that  you  signify  the  same  unto  us,  by  the  first 
opportunity,  that  we  may  under  our  Signet  and  Sign  Ma- 
nual constitute  and  appoint  others  in  their  stead ;  but  that 
our  affairs  may  not  suffer  at  that  instant,  for  want  of 
a  due  Number  of  Councillors,  if  ever  it  should  happen 
that  there  should  be  less  than  seven  of  them  residing  in  our 
said  Province,  we  do  hereby  give  and  grant  unto  you  the 
said  Lord  Cornhury,  full  Power  and  Authority  to  chuse 
as  many  Persons  out  of  the  Principal  Freeholders,  Inhabit- 
ants thereof,  as  will  make  up  the  full  number  of  our  said 
Council  to  be  seven,  and  no  more,  which  persons  so  chosen 
and  appointed  by  you,  shall  be  to  all  Intents  and  Purposes 
Councillors  in  our  said  Province,  until  either  they  shall  be 
confirmed  by  us,  or  that  by  the  Nomination  of  others  by 
us,  under  our  Sign  Manual  and  Signet,  our  said  Council 
shall  have  seven  or  more  Persons  in  it.  And  we  do  here- 
by give  and  grant  unto  you,  full  Power  and  Authority, 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  our  said  Council  from  Time 
to  Time,  as  need  shall  require,  to  summon  and  call  Gen- 
eral Assemblies  of  the  Freeholders  and  Planters  within 
your  Government,  in  manner  and  form  as  shall  be  directed 
in  our  Instructions  which  shall  be  given  you,  together  with 
this  our  Commission.  Our  Will  and  Pleasure  is,  that  the 
Persons  thereupon  duly  elected,  by  the  Major  part  of  the 
Freeholders  of  the  respective  Counties  and  Places  so  re- 
turned, and  having  before  sitting,  taken  the  Oaths  appoint- 
ed by  Act  of  Parliament  to  be  taken  instead  of  the  Oaths 
of  Allegiance  and  Supremacy,  and  the  Oath  mentioned  in 
the  aforesaid  Act,  entitled,  An  Act  to  declare  the  Alteration 
in  the  Oath  appointed  to  he  taken  hy  the  Act,  entitled,  An 


248  APPENDIX    B. 

Act  for  the  further  Security  of  his  Majesty's  Person, 
and  the  Succession  of  the  Crown  in  the  Protestant  Line, 
and  for  extinguishing  the  hopes  of  the  pretended  Prince  of 
Wales,  and  all  other  Pretenders,  and  their  open  and  secret 
Abettors,  and  for  declaring  the  Association  to  he  determin- 
ed ;  as  also  the  aforementioned  Test :  Which  Oath  you 
shall  commissionate  fit  Persons  under  our  Seal  of  Nova- 
CcBsarea,  or  New-Jersey,  to  administer  unto  them,  and 
without  taking  of  which  Oaths  and  subscribing  the  said 
Test,  none  shall  be  capable  of  sitting  though  elected,  shall 
be  called  and  held  the  General  Assembly  of  that  our  Pro- 
vince, and  that  you  the  said  Lord  Cornhury,  by  and  with 
the  Advice  and  Consent  of  our  Council  and  Assembly,  or 
the  Major  part  of  them  respectively,  shall  have  full  Power 
and  Authority  to  make,  constitute,  and  ordain  Laws,  Sta- 
tutes and  Ordinances,  for  the  publick  Peace,  Welfare,  and 
good  Government  of  our  said  Province,  and  of  the  People 
and  Inhabitants  thereof,  and  such  others  as  shall  report 
thereto,  and  for  the  Benefit  of  'us,  our  Heirs,  and  Succes- 
sors, which  said  Laws,  Statutes,  and  Ordinances  are  not  to 
be  repugnant,  but  as  near  as  may  be  agreeable  unto  the 
Laws  and  Statutes  of  this  our  Kingdom  of  England.  Pro- 
vided that  all  such  Laws,  Statutes  and  Ordinances  of  what 
nature  or  duration  soever,  be  within  three  Months  or  soon- 
er, after  the  making  thereof,  transmitted  to  us,  under  our 
Seal  of  Nova-Ccssarea,  or  New- Jersey,  for  our  Approba- 
tion or  Disallowance  of  them,  as  also  Duplicates  thereof 
by  the  next  conveyance,  or  in  case  any  or  all  of  them  be- 
ing not  before  confirmed  by  us,  shall  at  any  Time  be  disal- 
lowed and  not  approved,  and  so  signified  by  us,  our  Heirs 
or  Successors,  under  our  or  their  Sign  Manual  and  Signet, 
or  by  Order  of  our  or  their  privy  Council,  unto  you  the 
said  Lord  Cornhury,  or  to  the  Commander  in  Chief  of  our 


APPENDIX    B.  249 

said  Province  for  the  Time  being,  then  such  and  so  many 
of  them  as  shall  be  disallowed  and  not  approved  shall  from 
thenceforth  cease,  determine,  and  become  utterly  void  and 
of  none  effect,  any  Thing  to  the  contrary  thereof  notwith- 
standing. And  to  the  end  that  nothing  may  be  passed  or 
done  by  our  said  Council  or  Assembly,  to  the  prejudice  of 
our  Heirs  and  Successors,  we  will  and  ordain,  that  you  the 
said  Lord  Cornhury,  shall  have  and  enjoy  a  Negative 
Power  in  the  making  and  passing  of  all  Laws,  Statutes  and 
Ordinances  as  aforesaid.  And  that  you  shall  and  may  like- 
wise from  Time  to  Time,  as  you  shall  judge  it  necessary, 
adjourn,  prorogue  and  dissolve  all  General  Assemblies. 
Our  Will  and  Pleasure  is,  that  you  shall  and  may  use  and 
keep  the  publick  Seal  of  our  Province  of  Nova-Ccesarea, 
or  New-Jersey,  for  Sealing  all  Things  whatsoever  that  pass 
the  Great  Seal  of  our  said  Province  under  your  Govern- 
ment. And  we  do  further  give  and  grant  unto  you  the 
said  Lord  Cornhury,  full  Power  and  Authority,  from  Time 
to  Time,  and  at  all  Times  hereafter,  by  yourself,  or  by  any 
other  to  be  authorized  by  you  in  that  behalf,  to  administer 
and  give  the  Oaths  appointed  by  Act  of  Parhament,  instead 
of  the  Oath  of  Allegiance  and  Supremacy,  to  all  and  every 
such  Person  and  Persons  as  you  shall  think  fit,  who  shall  at 
any  Time  or  Times  pass  into  our  said  Province,  or  shall 
be  resident  or  abiding  there.  And  do  further  give  and 
grant  unto  you,  full  Power  and  Authority,  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  our  said  Council,  to  erect,  constitute  and 
establish  such  and  so  many  Courts  of  Judicature  and  pub- 
lick  Justice  within  our  said  Province  under  your  Govern- 
ment, as  you  and  they  shall  think  fit  and  necessary,  for  the 
hearinn;  and  determining  of  all  Causes  as  well  Criminal  as 
Civil,  according  to  Law  and  Equity,  and  for  awarding 
execution  thereupon  with  all    reasonable    and    necessary 


250  APPENDIX    B. 

Powers,  Authorities,  Fees  and  Privileges  belonging  unto 
them ;  and  also  to  appoint  and  commissionate  fit  Persons 
in  the  several  Parts  of  your  Government  to  administer  the 
Oaths  appointed  by  Act  of  Parliament  to  be  taken  instead 
of  the  Oath  of  Allegiance  and  Supremacy,  and  the  Oath 
mentioned  in  the  aforesaid  Act,  entitled,  An  Act  to  declare 
the  Alteration  in  the  Oath  to  be  taken  hy  the  Act,  entitled, 
An  Act  for  the  further  Security  of  his  Majesty's  Person, 
and  the  Succession  of  the  Crown  in  the  Protestant  Line, 
and  for  the  extinguishing  the  hopes  of  the  pretended  Prince 
of  Wales,  and  all  other  Pretenders,  and  their  open  and  se- 
cret Abettors,  and  for  declari7ig  the  Association  to  be  de- 
termined ;  as  also  the  Test,  unto  such  Persons  as  shall  be 
obliged  to  take  the  same.  And  we  do  hereby  authorize 
and  empower  you  to  constitute  and  appoint  Judges,  and  in 
Cases  requisite,  Commissioners  of  Oyer  and  Terminer,  Jus- 
tices of  the  Peace,  and  other  necessary  Officers  and  Ma- 
gistrates in  our  said  Province,  for  the  better  administration 
of  Justice,  and  putting  the  Laws  in  Execution  ;  and  to  ad- 
minister, or  cause  to  be  administered  unto  them,  such  Oath 
or  Oaths  as  are  usually  given  for  the  due  Execution  and 
Performace  of  Offices  and  Places,  and  for  the  clearing  of 
Truth  in  judicial  Causes.  And  we  do  hereby  give  and 
grant  unto  you,  full  Power  and  Authority  where  you  shall 
see  Cause,  or  Judge  any  Offender  or  Offenders  in  Criminal 
Matters,  or  any  fines  or  forfeitures  due  unto  us,  fit  Objects 
of  our  Mercy,  to  pardon  all  such  OfTenders  and  to  remit  all 
such  Offences,  Fines  and  Forfeitures,  Treasons  and  wilful 
Murder  only  excepted,  in  which  case  you  shall  likewise 
have  Power  upon  extraordinary  Occasions,  to  grant  re- 
prises to  the  Offenders,  until  and  to  the  Intent  our  Royal 
Pleasure  may  be  known  therein.  And  we  do  by  these 
presents  authorize  and  impower  you  to  collate  any  Person 


APPENDIX    B.  254 

or  Persons  to  any  Churches,  Chappels  or  other  ecclesias- 
tical Benefices  within  our  said  Province,  as  often  as  any  of 
them  shall -happen  to  be  void.  And  we  do  hereby  give  and 
grant  unto  you  the  said  Lord  Cornhiiry,  by  your  self,  and  by 
your  Captains  and  Commanders,  by  you  to  be  authorized, 
full  Power  and  Authority  to  levy,  arm,  muster,  command 
and  employ  all  Persons  whatsoever  residing  within  our 
said  Province  of  Nova-CcEsarea,  or  New- Jersey,  and  as 
occasion  shall  serve  them,  to  Transport  from  one  place  to 
another  for  the  resisting  and  withstanding  of  all  Ene- 
mies, Pirates,  and  Rebels,  both  at  Sea  and  Land,  and  to 
Transport  such  Forces  to  any  of  our  Plantations  in  Ameri- 
ca, if  necessity  shall  require,  for  the  defence  of  the  same 
against  the  Invasion  and  attempts  of  any  of  our  Enemies, 
Pirates  and  Rebels,  if  there  shall  be  occasion  to  pursue  and 
prosecute  in  or  out  of  the  Limits  of  our  said  Province  and 
Plantations,  or  any  of  them  ;  and  if  it  shall  please  God 
them  to  vanquish,  apprehend  and  take,  and  being  taken 
either  according  to  Law,  to  put  to  Death,  or  keep  and  pre- 
serve alive  at  your  discretion,  and  to  execute  Martial  Law, 
in  time  of  Invasion,  Insurrection  or  War,  and  to  do  and 
execute  all  and  every  other  Thing  and  Things,  which  to 
any  Captain  General  and  Governor  in  Chief,  doth  or  ought 
of  right  to  belong.  And  we  do  hereby  give  and  grant  unto 
you  full  Power  and  Authority,  by  and  with  the  Advice  and 
Consent  of  our  said  Council,  to  erect,  raise  and  build  in 
our  said  Province  of  Nova-Ccesarea,  or  New- Jersey,  such 
and  so  many  Forts,  Platforms,  Castles,  Cities,  Burroughs, 
Towns,  and  Fortifications,  as  you  by  the  Advice  aforesaid, 
shall  judge  necessary,  and  the  same,  or  any  of  them,  to  for- 
tify and  furnish  with  Ordinance,  Ammunition,  and  all  sorts 
of  Arms  fit  and  necessary  for  the  Security  and  Defence  of 
our  said  Province ;  and  by  the  advice  aforesaid,  the  same 


252  APPENDIX    B. 

or  any  of  them  again  to  demolish  or  dismantle  as  may  be 
most  convenient.  And  forasmuch  as  many  Mutinies  and 
Disorders  may  happen,  by  Persons  shipped  and  employed 
at  Sea  during  the  Time  of  War,  to  the  end  that  such  as 
shall  be  shipped  and  employed  at  Sea  during  the  Time  of 
War,  may  be  better  governed  and  ordered,  we  do  hereby 
give  and  grant  unto  you  the  said  Lord  Cornhury,  full 
Power  and  Authority  to  constitute  and  appoint  Captains, 
Lieutenants,  Masters  of  Ships,  and  other  Commanders  and 
Officers,  and  to  grant  unto  such  Captains,  Lieutenants, 
Masters  of  Ships,  and  other  Commanders,  and  Officers, 
Commissions,  to  execute  the  Law  Martial  during  the  Time 
of  War,  and  to  use  such  Proceedings,  Authorities,  Correc- 
tions, Executions,  upon  any  Offender  or  Offenders  who  shall 
be  mutinous,  seditious,  disorderly,  or  any  ways  unruly  at 
Sea,  or  during  the  Time  of  their  abode  or  residence  in  any 
of  the  Ports,  Harbours,  or  Quays  of  our  said  Province,  as 
the  cause  shall  be  found  to  require  according  to  Martial 
Law,  during  the  Time  of  War  as  aforesaid.  Provided, 
that  nothing  herein  contained,  shall  be  construed  to  the 
enabling  you,  or  any  by  your  Authority,  to  hold  Plea  or 
have  any  Jurisdiction  of  any  Offence,  Cause,  Matter  or 
Thing  committed  or  done  upon  the  High  Sea,  or  within 
any  of  the  Harbors,  Rivers  or  Creeks  of  our  said  Province 
under  your  Government,  by  any  Captain,  Commander, 
Lieutenant,  Master,  Officer,  Sea  Man,  Soldier,  or  other 
Person  whatsoever,  who  shall  be  in  actual  Service  and  Pay, 
in  or  aboard  any  of  our  Ships  of  War,  or  the  Vessel  acting 
by  immediate  Commission  or  Warrant  from  our  High  Ad- 
miral of  England,  under  the  Seal  of  our  Admiralty,  or 
from  the  Commissioners  for  executing  the  Office  of  our 
High  Admiral  of  England  for  the  Time  being,  but  that 
such  Captain,  Commander,  Lieutenant,    Master,  Officers, 


APPENDIX    B.  253 

Sea  Men,  Soldiers,  and  other  Persons  offending,  shall  be 
left  to  be  proceeded  against  as  the  Merit  of  their  Offences 
shall  require,  either  by  Commission  under  our  great  Seal  of 
England,  as  the  Statute  of  the  Twenty-eighth  of  King 
Henry  the  Eighth  directs,  or  by  Commission  from  our 
High  Admiral  of  England,  or  from  our  Commissioners  for 
executing  the  Office  of  our  High  Admiral  of  England,  for 
the  Time  being,  according  to  the  Act  of  Parliament  passed 
in  the  Thirteenth  Year  of  King  Charles  the  Second,  en- 
titled. An  Act  for  establishing  Articles  and  Orders,  for  the 
regulating  and  better  Government  of  his  Majesty's  Navy, 
Ships  of  War,  and  Forces  by  Sea,  and  not  otherwise. 
PROVIDED  NEVERTHELESS  that  all  Disorders  and 
Misdemeanors  committed  on  Shore  by  any  Captain,  Com- 
mander, Lieutenant,  Master,  Officer,  Sea  Man,  Soldier,  or 
any  other  Person  whatsoever,  belonging  to  any  of  our 
Ships  of  War,  or  other  Vessels  acting  by  immediate  Com- 
mission, or  Warrant  from  our  High  Admiral  of  England, 
under  the  Seal  of  our  Admiralty,  or  from  our  Commission- 
ers for  executing  the  Office  of  High  Admiral  of  England, 
for  the  Time  being,  may  be  tryed  and  punished  according 
to  the  Laws  and  Place  where  any  such  Disorder,  Offences 
and  Misdemeanours,  shall  be  committed  on  Shore,  not- 
withstanding such  Offender  be  in  our  actual  Service  and 
in  our  pay  on  board  any  such  our  Ships  of  War  or  other 
Vessels,  acting  by  immediate  Commission  or  Warrant  from 
our  High  Admiral,  or  from  our  Commissioners  for  execut- 
ing the  Office  of  High  Admiral  for  the  Time  being  as 
aforesaid,  so  as  he  shall  not  receive  any  Protection  for  the 
delaying  of  Justice,  for  such  Offences  committed  on  Shore, 
from  any  pretence  of  his  being  employed  in  our  Service  at 
Sea.  Our  Will  and  Pleasure  is,  that  all  publick  Money 
raised,  or  shall  be  raised  by  any  Act  hereafter  to  be  made 


254  APPENDIX    B. 

within  our  said  Province,  and  issued  out  by  Warrant  from 
you,  by  and  with  the  Advice  and  Consent  of  our  Council, 
and  disposed  of  by  you  for  the  Support  of  the  Government, 
and  otherwise,  we  do  hereby  give  you  the  said  Lord  Corn- 
bury,  full  Power  and  Authority  to  order  and  appoint  Fairs, 
Marts,  and  Markets,  as  also  such  and  so  many  Ports,  Har- 
bours, Cayes,  Havens,  and  other  places  for  the  Conve- 
niency  and  Security  of  Shipping,  and  for  the  loading  and 
unloading  of  Goods  and  Merchandize,  as  by  you,  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  our  said  Council,  shall  be  thought  fit 
and  necessary.  And  we  do  hereby  require  and  command 
all  Officers  and  Magistrates,  Civil  and  Military,  and  all 
other  the  Inhabitants  of  our  said  Province,  to  be  obedient, 
aiding  and  assisting  unto  you  our  said  Lord  Cornhury,  in 
the  execution  of  this  our  Commission,  and  for  the  Powers 
and  Authoi'ities  herein  contained  ;  and  in  case  of  your  Death 
or  Absence  out  of  our  said  Province,  to  be  obedient,  aid- 
ing and  assisting  to  such  Person  as  shall  be  appointed  by 
us,  to  be  our  Lieutenant  Governor  or  Commander  in  Chief 
of  the  said  Province,  to  whom  we  do  therefore  by  these 
Presents,  give  and  grant  all  and  singular  the  Privileges 
and  Authorities  aforesaid,  to  be  by  him  executed  and  en- 
joyed during  our  Pleasure,  or  until  your  arrival  within  our 
said  Province :  And  if  upon  your  Death  or  Absence  out 
of  our  said  Province  there  be  no  Person  upon  the  Place 
commissionated  or  appointed  by  us  to  be  our  Lieutenant 
Governor,  or  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  said  Province, 
our  Will  and  Pleasure  is,  that  the  then  present  Council  of 
our  said  Province,  do  take  upon  them  the  Administration 
of  the  Government,  and  execute  this  Commission,  and  the 
several  Powers  and  Authorities  herein  contained,  and  that 
such  Councillor  who  shall  be  at  the  Time  of  your  Death 
or  Absence,  residing  within  our  said  Province,  and  nomi- 


APPENDIX    B.  255 

nated  by  our  Instructions  to  you,  befoi'e  any  other  at  that 
Time  residing  there,  do  preside  in  our  said  Council,  with 
such  Privileges  and  Preeminences  as  may  be  necessary 
in  those  circumstances,  for  the  due  and  orderly  carrying 
on  the  publick  Service  in  the  Administration  of  the  Gov- 
ernment as  aforesaid,  until  our  Pleasure  be  further  known, 
or  until  your  return.  LASTLY  we  do  hereby  declare, 
ordain  and  appoint,  that  you  the  said  Lord  Cornhury,  shall 
and  may  hold,  execute  and  enjoy  the  Office  and  Place  of 
Captain  General  and  Governor  in  Chief,  in  and  over  our 
Province  of  Nova-Ccesarea,  or  New- Jersey,  together  with 
all  and  singular  the  Powers  and  Authorities  hereby  granted 
unto  you,  for  and  during  our  Will  and  Pleasure  from  and 
after  the  Publication  of  this  our  Commission.  IN  WIT- 
NESS whereof  we  have  caused  these  our  Letters  to  be 
made  Patent.  WITNESS  our  self  at  Westminster,  the 
fifth  Day  of  December,  in  the  first  Year  of  our  Reign. 

Per  hre  probate,  Sigillo.     Wrights. 

The  foregoing  is  a  ti'ue  Copy  taken  from  and  compared 
with  the  Record  in  the  Secretary's  Office,  at  Burlington, 
in  Lib.  A.  A.  A,  of  Commissions,  Folio  1st. 

Examined  per 

Samuel  Peart,  D.  Secretary. 


APPENDIX   C. 


By  His  Excellency  Edward  Viscount  Cornbury 
Capt.  General  and  Governour  in  Chief  in  and 
over  her  Majesty's  Provinces  of  New-Jersey, 
New- York,  and  all  the  Territories  and  Tracts  of 
Land  depending  thereon  in  America,  and  Vice- 
Admiral  of  the  same,  <&z;c.  An  Ordinance  for 
Establishing  Courts  of  Judicature. 

Whereas  Her  Most  Sacred  Majesty,  ANNE,  by  the 
Grace  of  God,  Queen  of  England,  Scotland,  France,  and 
Ireland,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  &c.  by  her  Royal  Letters 
Patents,  bearing  date  the  5th  day  of  December,  in  the 
first  year  of  her  Majesty's  Reign,  did  among  other  things 
therein  mentioned,  give  and  grant  unto  his  Excellency 
Edward  Viscount  Cornbury,  Captain  General  and  Gover- 
nour in  Chief  in  and  over  the  Province  of  Nova-Cesarea, 
or  New-Jersey,  &c.  full  Power  and  Authority,  with  the 
Advice  and  Consent  of  her  Majesty's  Council  of  the  said 
Province,  to  erect,  constitute,  and  establish  such  and  so 
many  courts  of  Judicature  and  publick  Justice  within  the 
said  Province  and  Territories  depending  thereon,  as  his 


APPENDIX   C.  257 

said  Excellency  &  Council  shall  think  fit  and  necessary, 
for  the  Hearing  and  Determining  all  Causes  as  well  Crimi- 
nal as  Civil,  according  to  Law  and  Equity,  and  for  awarding 
Execution  thereupon,  with  all  necessary  Powers,  Autho- 
rities, Fees  and  Priviledges  belonging  to  them. 

His  Excellency  the  Governour,  by  and  with  the  Advice 
and  Consent  of  her  Majesty's  Council,  and  by  virtue  of 
the  Powers  and  Authorities  derived  unto  him  by  her  said 
Majesty's  Letters  Patents,  doth  by  these  Presents  Ordain, 
and  it  is  hereby  Ordained  by  the  Authority  aforesaid, 
That  every  Justice  of  the  Peace  that  resides  within  any 
Town  or  County  within  this  Province,  is  by  these  Pres- 
ents fully  impowered  and  authorized  to  have  Cognizance 
of  all  Causes  or  Cases  of  Debt  and  Trespass  to  the  value 
of  Forty  Shillings,  or  under ;  which  Causes  or  Cases  of 
Debt  and  Trespasses,  to  the  value  of  Forty  Shillings,  or 
under,  shall  and  may  be  Heard,  Try'd  and  finally  Deter- 
mined without  a  Jury,  by  every  Justice  of  the  Peace 
residing,  as  aforesaid. 

The  Process  of  Warning  against  a  Free-Holder  or  In- 
habitant shall  be  by  Summons,  under  the  Hand  of  the 
Justice,  directed  to  the  Constable  of  the  Town  or  Precinct, 
or  to  any  deputed  by  him,  where  the  party  complained 
against  does  live  or  reside ;  which  Summons  being  per- 
sonally served  or  left  at  the  Defendant's  House  or  place  of 
his  Abode,  four  days  before  the  hearing  of  the  Plaint,  shall 
be  sufficient  Authority  to  and  for  the  said  Justice  to  pro- 
ceed to  hear  such  Cause  or  Causes,  and  Determine  the 
same  in  the  Defendants  absence,  and  to  grant  Execution 
thereupon  against  the  Defendants  Person,  or  for  want 
thereof,  his  Goods  and  Chattels,  which  the  Constable,  or  his 
Deputy,  of  that  Town  or  Precinct  shall  and  may  serve, 
17 


2Sg  APPENDIX    C. 

unless   some   reasonable   excuse  for   the  Parties   absence 
appear  to  the  Justice. 

And  the  Process  against  an  Itinerant  Persofi,  Inmate  or 
Foreigner,  shall  be  by  Warrant  from  any  one  Justice  of 
the  Peace,  to  be  served  by  any  Constable,  or  his  Deputy 
within  that  County,  who  shall  by  virtue  thereof,  arrest  the 
Party,  and  him  safely  keep  till  he  be  carried  before  the  said 
Justice  of  the  Peace,  who  shall  and  may  immediately  hear, 
try,  &  finally  determine,  all  such  Causes  and  Cases  of  Debt 
and  Trespass,  to  the  value  of  Forty  Shillings,  or  under,  by 
awarding  Judgment  and  Execution  ;  and  if  payment  be 
not  immediately  made,  the  Constable  is  to  deliver  the  Party 
to  the  Sheriff,  who  is  hereby  required  to  take  him  into 
Custody,  and  him  safely  keep  till  payment  be  made  of  the 
same,  with  Charges ;  Always  Provided,  That  an  Appeal  to 
the  Justices  at  the  next  Court  of  Sessions  held  for  the  said 
County,  shall  be  allowed  for  any  sum  upwards  of  Twenty 
Shillings. 

And  his  said  Excellency,  by  the  advice  and  consent 
aforesaid,  doth  by  these  Presents  further  Ordain,  That 
there  shall  be  kept  and  holden  a  Court  of  Common  Pleas 
in  each  respective  County  within  this  Province,  which 
shall  be  holden  in  each  County  at  such  place  where  the 
General  Court  of  Sessions  is  usually  held  and  kept,  to  begin 
immediately  after  the  Sessions  of  the  Peace  does  end  and 
terminate,  and  then  to  hold  and  continue  as  long  as  there 
is  any  business,  not  exceeding  three  days. 

And  the  several  and  respective  Courts  of  Pleas  hereby 
established,  shall  have  Power  &  Jurisdiction  to  hear,  try, 
and  finally  determine  all  Actions  or  Causes  of  Action,  and 
all  Matters  and  Things  Tryable  at  Common  Law,  of  what 
nature  or  kind  soever.  Provided  always,  and  it  is  hereby 
Ordained,   That  there  may,  and  shall  be  an   Appeal   or 


APPENDIX    C. 


259 


Removal  by  Habeas  Corpus,  or  any  other  lawful  Writ,  of 
any  Person  or  of  any  Action  or  Suit  depending,  and 
of  Judgment  or  Execution  that  shall  be  determined  in  the 
said  respective  Courts  of  Pleas,  upwards  of  Ten  Pounds, 
and  of  any  Action  or  Suit  wherein  the  Right  or  Title  of,  in 
or  to  any  Land,  or  anything  relating  thereto,  shall  be 
brought  into  Dispute  or  upon  Tryal. 

And  it  is  further  Ordained  hy  the  Authority  aforesaid, 
That  the  General  Sessions  of  the  Peace  shall  be  held  in 
each  respective  County  within  this  Province  at  the  Times 
and  places  hereafter  mentioned,  that  is  to  say. 

For  the  County  of  Middlesex,  at  Aynhoy  the  third 
Tuesdays  in  February,  May  and  August ;  and  the  fourth 
Tuesday  in  November. 

For  the  County  of  Bergen,  at  Bergen,  the  first  Tuesdays 
in  February,  May  and  August,  and  the  second  Tuesday 
in  November. 

For  the  County  of  Essex,  at  Newark,  the  second  Tues- 
days in  February,  May  and  August ;  and  the  third  Tues- 
day in  November. 

For  the  County  of  Monmouth,  at  Shrewsbury,  the  fourth 
Tuesdays  in  February,  May  and  August,  and  the  first 
Tuesday  in  December. 

For  the  County  of  Burlington,  at  Burlington,  the  first 
Tuesdays  in  March,  June,  and  September,  and  the  second 
Tuesday  in  December. 

For  the  County  of  Gloucester,  the  second  Tuesdays  in 
March,  June  and  September,  and  the  third  Tuesday  in 
December. 

For  the  County  of  Salem,  at  Salem,  the  third  Tuesdays 
in  March,  June  and  September,  and  the  fourth  Tuesday  in 
December. 

For  the  County  of  Cape  May,  at  the  house  of  Shamger 


260  APPENDIX    C. 

Hand,  the  fourth  Tuesdays  in  March,  June  and  September, 
and  the  first  Tuesday  in  January.  Which  General  Ses- 
sions of  the  Peace  in  each  respective  County  aforesaid, 
shall  hold  and  continue  for  any  term  not  exceeding  two 
days. 

And  he  it  further  Ordained  by  the  Authority  aforesaid. 
That  there  shall  be  held  and  kept  at  the  Cities  or  Towns 
of  Perth-Amboy  and  Burlington,  alternately,  a  Supream 
Court  of  Judicature,  which  Supream  Court  is  hereby  fully 
impowered  to  have  Cognizance  of  all  Pleas,  civil,  criminal, 
and  mixt,  as  fully  and  amply,  to  all  intents  and  purposes, 
whatsoever,  as  the  Courts  of  Queens  Bench,  Common  Pleas 
and  Exchequer  within  her  Majesties  Kingdom  of  England 
have  or  ought  to  have,  in  and  to  which  Supream  Court  all 
and  every  Person  and  Persons  whatsoever  shall  and  may, 
if  they  see  meet,  commence  any  Action  or  Suit,  the  Debt 
or  Damage  laid  in  such  Action  or  Suit,  being  upwards  of 
Ten  Pounds,  and  shall  or  may  by  Certiorari,  Habeas 
Corpus,  or  any  other  lawful  Writ,  remove  out  of  any  of 
the  respective  Courts  of  Sessions  of  the  Peace  or  Common 
Pleas,  any  Information  or  Indictment  there  depending,  or 
Judgment  thereupon  given,  or  to  be  given  in  any  Cri- 
minal matter  whatsoever,  cognizable  before  them,  or  any 
of  them,  as  also  all  actions.  Pleas,  or  Suits,  real,  personal, 
or  mixt,  depending  in  any  of  the  said  Courts,  and  all  Judg- 
ments thereupon  given,  or  to  be  given,  Provided  always, 
That  the  Action  or  Suit  depending,  or  Judgment  given, 
be  upwards  of  the  value  of  Ten  Pounds,  or  that  the  Action 
or  Suit  there  depending  or  determined  be  concerning  the 
Right  or  Title  of  any  Free-hold. 

And  out  of  the  office  of  which  Supream  Court  at 
Amhoy  and  Burlington  all  process  shall  issue  out,  under 
the  Test  of  the  chief  Justice  of  the  said  Court ;  unto  which 


APPENDIX    C.  261 

Office  all  Returns  shall  be  made.  Which  Supream  Court 
shall  be  holden  at  the  Cities  of  Amhoy  and  Burlington 
alternately,  at  Amhoy  on  the  first  Tuesday  in  May,  and  at 
Burlington  on  the  first  Tuesday  in  November,  annually, 
and  every  year ;  and  each  Session  of  the  said  Court  shall 
continue  for  any  Term  not  exceeding  five  days.  And  one 
of  the  Justices  of  the  said  Supream  Court  shall  once  in 
every  Year,  if  need  shall  so  require,  go  the  Circuit,  and 
hold  and  keep  the  said  Supream  Court,  for  the  County  of 
Bergen,  at  Bergen,  on  the  third  Tuesday  in  April.  For 
the  County  of  Essex,  at  Newark,  on  the  fourth  Tuesday  in 
April.  For  the  County  of  Monmouth,  at  Shrewsbury,  the 
second  Tuesday  in  May.  For  the  County  of  Gloucester,  at 
Gloucester,  the  third  Tuesday  in  May.  For  the  County 
o{  Salem,  at  Salem,  the  fourth  Tuesday  in  May.  For  the 
County  of  Cape  May,  at  Shamger  Hands,  the  first  Tues- 
day in  June.  Which  Justice,  when  he  goes  the  Circuit, 
shall  in  each  respective  County  be  assisted  by  two,  or  more 
Justices  of  the  Peace,  during  the  time  of  two  days,  whilst 
the  Court,  in  the  Circuit,  is  sitting,  and  no  longer. 

And  it  is  further  Ordained  by  the  Authority  aforesaid, 
That  all  and  every  of  the  Justices  or  Judges  of  the  several 
Courts  afore-mentioned,  be,  and  are  hereby  sufficiently 
Impowered  and  Authorized  to  make,  ordain  and  establish 
all  such  Rules  and  Orders,  for  the  more  regular  practising 
and  proceeding  in  the  said  Courts,  as  fully  and  amply,  to 
all  intents  and  purposes  whatsoever,  as  all  or  any  of  the 
Judges  of  the  several  Courts  of  Queens-Bench,  Common- 
Pleas,  and  Exchequer,  in  England  legally  do. 

And  it  is  further  Ordained  by  the  Authority  aforesaid 
That  no  Persons  Right  of  Property  shall  be,  by  any  of  the 
aforesaid  Courts,  Determined,  except  where  matters  of 
Fact  are  either  acknowledged  by  the  Parties,  or  Judgment 


262  APPENDIX    C. 

confessed,  or  passeth  by  the  Defendants  fault  for  want  of 
Plea  or  Answer,  unless  the  Fact  be  found  by  Verdict  of 
Twelve  Men  of  that  Neighbourhood,  as  it  ought  to  be  done 
by  Law. 

CORNBURY. 


APPENDIX    D. 


An   Ordinance   for   Establishing   Courts  of  Judi- 
cature within  the  Province  of  New-Jersey. 

By  his  Excellency  Robert  Hunter,  Esg.,  Captain- 
General  and  Governoiir  in  Chief  in  and  over  the 
Provinces  of  New-Jersey,  New- York,  and  all  the 
Territories  and  Tracts  of  Land  depeiiding  thereon 
in  America,  and  Vice  Admiral  of  the  same,  ^c.  ifi 
Council. 

His  Excellency  the  Governour,  by  virtue  of  the  Power 
and  Authority  to  him  given  by  her  Majesties  Letters 
Patents  under  the  great  Seal  of  Great  Britain,  by  and 
with  the  Advice  and  Assistance  of  her  Majesties  Council 
for  the  said  Province  of  Nova-  Cesarea,  doth  hereby  Ordain 
and  Impower  every  Justice  of  the  Peace  residing  within 
any  Town  or  County  within  this  Province  of  Nova- 
Cesarea  to  have  Cognizance  of  all  Causes  and  Cases  of 
Debt  or  Trespass,  to  the  value  of  Forty  Shillings  or  under, 
all  which  Causes  and  Cases  shall  and  may  be  heard,  tryed 
and  finally  Determined,  without  a  Jury,  by  any  of  the  said 


264  APPENDIX    D. 

Justices  of  the  Peace,  as  aforesaid,  excepting  such  Cases 
where  Titles  of  Land  are  or  may  be  any  way  concerned. 

And  he  it  ordained  by  the  Authority  aforesaid,  That  the 
Process  of  Warning  against  a  Free-holder  or  Inhabitant, 
shall  be  by  Summons  under  the  Hand  of  any  of  the  said 
Justices  of  the  Peace,  directed  to  the  Constable  of  the 
Town  or  Precinct,  or  to  any  deputed  by  him,  where  the 
party  complained  against  does  dwell  or  reside,  which 
Summons  shall  be  served  upon  the  Person,  or  left  at  the 
House  or  place  of  abode  of  the  Defendant,  four  days  at 
least  before  the  Time  appointed  for  the  hearing  of  the 
Plaint.  And  in  case  the  Defendant  does  not  appear  at  the 
Time  appointed,  the  Justice  granting  such  Summons  may 
proceed  to  hear  such  Cause  or  Causes,  and  Determine  the 
same  in  the  Defendants  absence  (unless  the  said  Justice, 
for  good  reason  see  cause  to  the  contrary)  and  grant 
Execution  thereupon,  directed  to  the  said  Constable,  or  his 
Deputy,  to  be  levyed  upon  the  Defendants  Goods  and 
Chattels,  or  for  want  thereof  upon  the  Person  of  the 
Defendant,  which  he  is  hereby  directed,  and  required  to 
execute  accordingly. 

And  he  it  ordained  by  the  Authority  aforesaid,  That 
the  Process  against  an  Itinerant  Person,  Inmate  or 
Foreigner,  shall  be  by  Warrant  from  any  one  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  to  be  served  by  any  Constable  or  his  Deputy,  within 
that  County,  who  shall,  by  virtue  thereof,  arrest  the  Party 
and  him  safely  keep  till  he  be  carryed  before  the  said 
Justice,  who  shall  and  may  immediately  Hear,  Try  and 
finally  Determine  all  such  Causes  and  Cases  of  Debt  and 
Trespass,  as  aforesaid,  to  the  value  of  Forty  Shillings,  or 
under,  by  awarding  Judgment  and  Execution.  And  if 
payment  be  not  immediately  made,  the  Constable  shall 
deliver  the  said  Party  to  the  Sheriff  of  that  County,  who  is 


APPENDIX    D.  265 

hereby  required  to  take  him  into  Custody,  and  him  safely 
keep  till  Payment  be  made  of  the  same,  with  Charges. 

Provided  always,  and  it  is  hereby  further  Ordained, 
That  an  Appeal  to  the  Justices  of  the  same  County  at  the 
next  General  Court  of  Sessions  of  the  Peace  held,  shall  be 
allowed  for  any  Sum  upwards  of  Twenty  Shilings  in  all 
Causes  and  Cases  whatsoever. 

And  it  is  hereby  further  Ordained  by  the  Authority 
aforesaid,  That  there  shall  be  kept  and  holden  a  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  in  each  respective  County  within  this 
Province  of  New-Jersey  aforesaid,  at  such  places  where 
the  General  Courts  of  Sessions  of  the  Peace  are  usually 
held  and  kept,  to  begin  immediately  after,  or  the  next  Day 
after  the  General  Sessions  of  the  Peace  ends  and  termi- 
nates, and  then  to  hold  and  continue  for  any  time,  not 
exceeding  Three  Days.  Which  several  and  respective 
Courts  of  Common  Pleas  shall  have  power  and  Jurisdic- 
tion to  Hear,  Try,  and  finally  Determine  all  Actions  or 
Causes  of  Action,  and  all  Matters  and  Things  Tryable  at 
Common  Law,  of  what  nature  and  kind  soever. 

And  it  is  hereby  further  Ordained  by  the  Authority 
aforesaid,  That  the  General  Courts  of  Sessions  of  the 
Peace  shall  be  held  and  kept  in  each  respective  County 
within  this  Province,  at  the  Times  and  Places  herein  after- 
mentioned,  That  is  to  say. 

The  first  Court  of  Sessions  to  be  held  after  the  Pub- 
lication hereof,  at  the  Times  and  Places  to  which  the  said 
Courts  were  last  adjourned,  and  thereafter  yearly  and 
every  year. 

For  the  County  of  Bergen,  at  the  Town  of  Bergen, 
until  the  Court-House  and  Gaol,  for  said  County  be  built, 
on  the  first  Tuesdays  in  February  and  August,  and  the 
third  Tuesdays  in  April  and  October,  and  thereafter  at  the 


266  APPENDIX    D. 

Court-house  of  the  said  County  on  the  Days  and  Times 
before-mentioned. 

For  the  County  of  Essex,  at  Newark,  the  second  Tues- 
day of  February  and  August ;  and  the  fourth  Tuesday  in 
April  and  October. 

For  the  County  of  Middlesex  and  Somerset,  at  the 
Town  of  Perth-Amboy,  the  third  Tuesday  of  February, 
May,  August  and  November. 

For  the  County  of  Monmouth,  at  Shrewsberry,  until  the 
Court-house  and  Gaol  for  said  County  be  built,  and  there- 
after at  the  Court-house  in  the  said  County,  on  the  fourth 
Tuesday  of  February,  May,  August  and  November. 

For  the  County  of  Hunterdon,  at  Maidenhead,  the  first 
Tuesday  in  June  and  December.  And  at  Hopewell,  the 
first  Tuesday  in  March  and  September,  until  the  Court- 
house and  Gaol  for  said  County  be  built,  and  thereafter  at 
the  Court-house  of  said  County  only. 

For  the  County  of  Burlington,  at  the  Town  of 
Burlington,  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  March,  June,  Sep- 
tember and  December. 

For  the  County  of  Gloucester,  at  the  Town  of  Glouces- 
ter, on  the  third  Tuesday  in  March,  June,  September,  and 
December. 

For  the  County  of  Salem,  at  the  Town  of  Salem,  on  the 
fourth  Tuesday  in  Mai^ch,  June,  September  and  December. 

¥ov  the  County  of  Cape-May,  at  Cape-May,  the  first 
Tuesday  in  April,  July,  October  and  January. 

Which  General  Court  of  Sessions  of  the  Peace  shall 
hold  and  continue  for  any  time  not  exceeding  two  Days. 

And  it  is  hereby  further  ordained  by  the  Authority 
aforesaid,  That  there  shall  be  a  Supream  Court  of  Judi- 
cature held  and  kept  at  Burlington  on  the  first  Tuesday  of 
May  next,  to  which  Time  and  Place  it  was  left  adjourned. 


APPENDIX    D.  267 

and  on  the  first  Tuesday  in  November.  And  yearly  and 
every  year  at  Burlington  on  the  first  Tuesdays  of  May 
and  November.  And  yearly  and  every  year  at  Perth- 
Amboy  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  May,  and  second  Tues- 
day of  November. 

Which  Supream  Court  shall  continue  for  any  Term  not 
exceeding  five  days,  and  is  hereby  fully  Impowered  to  have 
Cognizance  of  all  pleas  Civil,  Criminal  and  Mixt,  as  fully 
and  amply  to  all  intents  and  purposes  whatsoever,  as  the 
Courts  of  Queens  Bench,  Common  Pleas,  and  Exchequer  in 
England,  have  or  ought  to  have.  In  and  to  which  Court 
all  and  every  Person  and  Persons  whatsoever,  shall  and 
may  commence  and  prosecute  any  Action  or  Suit,  the  real 
Debt  or  Damages  thereof  being  Twenty  Pounds,  or 
upwards,  and  shall  or  may  by  Certiorari,  Habeas  Corpus, 
Writ  of  Error,  or  any  other  lawful  Writ,  remove  out 
of  any  of  the  said  respective  Courts  of  Sessions  of  the 
Peace,  any  Information,  Presentment  or  Indictment  there 
depending,  or  Judgment  thereupon  given,  or  to  be  given  in 
any  Criminal  Matter  whatsoever,  cognizable  before  them, 
or  any  of  them,  as  also  all  Actions,  Pleas  or  Suits,  Real, 
Personal,  or  Mixt,  depending  in  any  of  the  said  Courts  of 
Common  Pleas,  and  all  Judgments  thereupon  given,  or  to 
be  given.  Provided  always.  That  the  Action  or  Suit 
depending,  or  Judgment  given  be  of  the  Value  of  Twenty 
Pounds,  or  upwards,  or  that  the  same  be  of,  for  or  con- 
cerning the  Right  or  Title  of  any  Lands,  Tenements  and 
Hereditaments  whatsoever. 

And  it  is  hereby  fitrther  Ordained  and  Declared  by  the 
Authority  aforesaid,  That  the  Office  of  the  said  Supream 
Court  of  Judicature  shall  be  kept  by  the  Clerk  thereof, 
or  his  sufficient  Deputy,  at  Perth-Amboy  aforesaid,  for  the 
Eastern,  and  at  Burlington   aforesaid   for   the    Western 


268  APPENDIX    D. 

Division,  under  the  Penalty  of  Deprivation,  and  such 
other  Fines  as  the  Law  can  inflict.  Out  of  which  Office 
of  Pei'th-Amboy  and  Burlington  aforesaid,  all  Process  shall 
issue  for  each  Division  respectively,  under  the  Test  of  the 
Chief  Justice  of  said  Province,  for  the  time  being;  and 
unto  which  Office  all  Returns  shall  be  made  respectively. 

And  it  is  hereby  further  Ordained  and  Declared  hy  the 
Authority  aforesaid,  That  all  and  every  the  Justices  and 
Judges  of  the  said  several  Courts  are  sufficiently  Im- 
powered  and  Authorized  to  make,  order  and  establish  such 
Rules  and  Orders  for  the  more  Regular  Proceedings  in  the 
said  Courts,  as  Justices  and  Judges  in  England  may  law- 
fully do,  any  former  Ordinance  or  Establishment  of  Courts 
of  Judicature  to  the  contrary  hereof  in  any  way  notwith- 
standing ;  All  which  are  from  hence-forward  declared  to 
be  Null  and  Void  by  these  Presents. 

Given  under  my  Hand  and  Seal  in  Horsumus  the  17th 

Day  of  April,  in  the  Thirteenth  year  of  her  Majesties 

Reign,  Annoq  ;  Domini  1714. 

RO.   HUNTER. 


APPENDIX    E. 


An  Ordinance  for  Regulating  the  Courts  of  Judica- 
ture in  the  Province  of  New- Jersey. 

GEORGE,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  of  Great  Britain, 
France  and  Ireland,  KING,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  &c. 
Whereas  We  have  thought  fit,  by  Advice  of  the  most  Ho- 
nourable, the  Lords  of  Our  Privy  Council,  at  Our  Court  at 
St.  James's,  on  the  Twentieth  Day  of  January,  in  the 
Eighth  Year  of  Our  Reign,  to  Disallov/  some  Laws  or 
Acts  of  General  Assembly  of  the  Province  of  New-Jersey, 
made  and  Enacted  by  the  Governour,  Council  and  Repre- 
sentatives of  that  Province,  in  General  Assembly,  met,  viz. 
One  Act,  Entituled,  An  Act  for  shortening  of  Law  Suits 
and  Regulating  the  Practice  of  the  Law ;  One  other  Act, 
Entituled,  An  Act  for  Acknowledging  and  Recording  of 
Deeds  and  Conveyances  of  Land-  within  each  respective 
County  of  this  Province  ;  and  one  other  Act;  Entituled,  An 
Act  for  Enforcing  the  Observation  of  an  Ordinance  for 
Establishing  Fees  within  this  Province.  And  Whereas  a 
late  Ordinance  for  Establishing  Courts  of  Judicature  within 
the  same  Province,  was  in  some  measure  made  conforma- 


270  APPENDIX    E. 

ble  to  one  of  the  said  Laws,  so  as  aforesaid  Disallowed. 
And  whereas  another  Ordinance  was  made,  bearing  Date 
the  Twenty-ninth  Day  of  April,  1723,  upon  the  Repeal  of 
the  said  Acts,  for  Regulating  of  Courts  of  Judicature, 
which  is  found  inconvenient  to  the  Inhabitants  of  this  Pro- 
vince, both  as  to  the  Times  of  the  Sitting  of  the  Courts, 
and  for  want  of  Persons  authorized  to  take  Bail  in  the 
Counties,  and  of  Courts  for  Tryals  of  Causes  in  the  Coun- 
ties, that  came  to  issue  in  the  Supreme  Court.  We  have 
therefore  thought  fit  to  Ordain,  6f  We  do  hereby  Ordain, 
Direct  and  Impower  Every  Justice  of  the  Peace  residing 
within  any  Town  or  County  in  the  Province  of  Nova- 
CcBsarea,  or  New-Jersey,  to  have  Cognizance  in  all  Causes 
and  Cases  of  Debt  and  Trespass,  of  the  Value  of  Forty 
Shillings,  or  under  ;  All  which  Causes  and  Cases  shall  and 
may  be  Heard,  Tryed  and  finally  Determined,  without  a 
Jury,  by  any  of  the  said  Justices  of  the  Peace,  as  aforesaid, 
Excepting  such  Cases  where  the  Titles  of  Land  are  or 
may  be  any  v/ise  concerned. 

AND  We  do  hereby  further  Ordain  and  Direct,  That 
the  Process  of  Warning  against  Free-holders  and  Inhabit- 
ants shall  be  by  Summons  under  the  Hand  of  any  of  the 
said  Justices  of  the  Peace,  directed  to  the  Constable  of  the 
Town  or  Precinct,  or  to  any  deputed  by  him,  where  the  Par- 
ty Complained  against  doth  dwell  or  reside.  Which  Sum- 
mons shall  be  served  upon  the  Person  or  left  at  the  House 
or  Place  of  Abode  of  the  Defendant,  Four  Days,  at  least, 
before  the  Time  appointed  for  the  Hearing  of  the  Plaint. 
And  in  case  the  Defendant  does  not  appear  at  the  time  ap- 
pointed, on  Affidavit  made  by  the  said  Constable  or  his 
Deputy,  That  the  said  Summons  was  duly  served  on  the 
Defendant's  Person  or  left  at  the  Defendant's  House  or 


APPENDIX    E.  271 

Place  of  Abode,  with  some  of  the  Family  of  the  said  De- 
fendant, the  Justice  granting  such  Summons  may,  and 
shall  not  otherwise,  proceed  to  Hear  such  Cause  or  Causes, 
and  Determine  the  same  in  the  Defendant's  Absence,  and 
grant  Execution  thereupon,  directed  to  any  of  the  Consta- 
bles or  Deputy  Constables,  to  be  levyed  upon  the  Defend- 
ant's Goods  and  Chatties,  and  for  want  thereof  upon  the 
Person  of  the  Defendant,  which  he  is  hereby  Impowered 
and  Directed  to  execute  accordingly. 

And  We  do  hereby  furtJier  Ordain  and  Direct,  That  the 
Process  against  an  Itinerant  Person,  Inmate  or  Forreigner 
shall  be  by  Warrant  from  any  one  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
to  be  served  by  any  Constable  or  his  Deputy  within  that 
County,  who  shall,  by  virtue  thereof.  Arrest  the  Party,  and 
him  safely  keep  till  he  shall  be  carried  before  the  said  Jus- 
tice., who  shall  and  may  immediately  Hear,  Try  and  finally 
Determine  all  such  Causes  and  Cases  of  Debt  and  Tres- 
pass, as  aforesaid,  to  the  Value  of  Forty  Shillings,  or  un- 
der, by  Awarding  Judgment  and  Execution.  And  if  Pay- 
ment be  not  immediately  made,  the  Constable  shall  deliver 
the  said  Party  to  the  Sheriff  of  that  County,  who  is  hereby 
Required  and  Impowered  to  take  him  into  Custody,  and 
him  safely  keep  until  Payment  be  made  of  the  same,  with 
Charges. 

Provided  always,  and  We  do  Jiereby  further  Ordain 
and  Direct,  That  an  Appeal  shall  be  allowed  to  the  Jus- 
tices of  the  same  County  at  the  next  General  Court  of  Ses- 
sions, of  the  Peace  held,  for  any  Sum  upwards  of  Ten  Shil- 
lings, in  all  Causes  or  Cases  Cognizable  before  them. 

And  Whereas  We  are  given  to  understand  that  many 
of  the  Inhabitants  of  Our  said  Province  live  Remote  from 


272  APPENDIX    E. 

the  Places  in  which  We  have  appointed  Our  Supreme 
Court  to  be  held,  and  that  it  will  be  of  great  Ease  and  Con- 
venience to  the  said  Inhabitants  that  a  Court  be  held  in  each 
County,  for  the  Hearing,  Trying  and  Determining  of  such 
Actions  and  Causes  of  Actions  as  shall  arise  within  each 
of  the  said  Counties,  and  Determinable  by  Juries  of  the 
same,  We  being  willing  and  desirous  to  promote  the  Ease, 
Well-being  and  Security  of  all  our  Loving  Subjects,  In- 
habitants of  the  said  Province  of  New-Jersey,  and  that 
Right  and  Justice  may  be  distributed  among  them,  and 
that  all  matters  of  Difference  may  be  Determined  by  their 
Equals  and  Neighbours,  as  nigh  as  the  present  Circum- 
stances of  Our  said  Province  will  admit,  according  to  the 
good  and  ancient  Laws  and  Usages  of  Our  Kingdom  of 
Great  Britain,  Do  Ordain  and  Direct,  That  the  County 
Courts  for  holding  of  Pleas,  continue  to  be  held  and  kept  in 
each  of  the  several  and  respective  Counties  of  Our  Pro- 
vince of  New-Jersey,  to  Hear,  and  by  the  Verdict  of 
Twelve  Good  Honest  and  Lawful  Free-holders  inhabiting 
within  the  said  respective  County  where  the  said  Court  is 
held,  to  Try  and  Determine  all  Suits,  Controversies,  Quar- 
rels and  Differences  that  may  arise  within  the  said  County 
between  Our  Loving  Subjects,  for  any  Sum  above  the  Va- 
lue of  Forty  Shillings  (Causes  wherein  the  Right  or  Title 
of  any  Lands,  Tenements  or  Hereditaments  in  any  wise 
concerned.  Excepted,)  Which  said  Suits,  Controversies, 
Quarrels  and  Differences  shall  be  Tryed  and  Determined 
in  the  said  Courts  by  a  Jury  of  Twelve  Good  and  Lawful 
Free-holders,  as  aforesaid,  and  not  otherwise. 

And  Whereas  it  may  so  happen,  that  by  the  Craft  and 
Artful  Practice  of  the  Persons  concerned  in  the  said 
Causes,  Quarrel  and  Controversies  Tryable   in   the  said 


APPENDIX    E.  273 

County  Courts  for  holding  of  Pleas,  the  said  Causes,  Quar- 
rels and  Controversies  may  be  drawn,  contrary  to  Our 
Royal  Intentions,  from  the  Examination  of  the  Jury,  to 
the  great  delay  and  Hindrance  of  Justice ;  and  it  may 
also  happen,  that  upon  Special  Verdicts  given  in  Our 
said  County  Courts  for  holding  of  Pleas,  and  upon  the 
Pleadings,  before  and  after  Verdict,  Matters  of  Law  may 
arise  ;  We  have  therefore  thought  Jit  to  Ordain  and  Direct, 
That  on  any  Special  Verdict  found  by  a  Jury  in  any  of  the 
said  Courts,  or  any  Joynder  in  Demurrer,  or  Pleading  be- 
fore or  after  Verdict,  whereby  any  Points  of  Law  may  be 
in  issue,  (such  Points  of  Law  as  are  necessary  to  be  De- 
termined by  the  Judges  of  the  said  Courts,  for  the  Regula- 
tion and  Information  of  the  Jury,  only  Excepted,)  That 
then  and  in  such  Case,  the  Clerk  of  any, of  the  said  County 
Courts,  respectively,  where  the  same  shall  happen,  shall 
make  up  a  Record  of  all  the  Pleadings  or  Special  Verdicts,. 
as  the  case  may  happen,  and  Transmit  the  same  to  the 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  at  the  next  Supreme 
Court  that  shall  sit  after  such  Joinder  in  Demurrer,  Plead- 
ing made  or  Special  Verdict  given,  that  Judgment  may  be 
given  thereon,  by  the  Justices  of  Our  Supreme  Court. 

And  We  do  hereby  Ordain  and  Direct,  That  the  Courts 
of  General  Sessions  of  the  Peace,  and  County  Courts  for 
holding  of  Pleas,  shall  be  heU  and  kept  in  each  respective 
County  within  this  Province,  at  the  Times  and  Places 
hereafter  mentioned,  t-Hat  is  to  say.  The  first  and  next 
Court  of  Sessions  and  Pleas,  at  the  Times  and  Places  to 
which  the  same  Courts  were  respectively  last  Adjourned, 
and  afterwards,  m  every  year,  to  be  Opened  on  the  follow- 
ing Days,  vir. 

For  the  County  of  Bergen,  at  the  Court-house  of  the 
18 


274  APPENDIX    E. 

said  County  on  the  second  Monday  of  September,  first 
Monday  of  December,  third  Monday  of  February,  and  se- 
cond Monday  of  May. 

For  the  County  of  Essex,  at  Newark,  on  the  Thursday 
next  ensuing  after  the  second  Monday  of  September ;  the 
Thursday  next  ensuing  after  the  first  Monday  of  Decem- 
ber ;  the  Thursday  next  ensuing  after  the  third  Monday  of 
February ;  the  Thursday  next  ensuing  after  the  second 
Monday  of  Jfay. 

For  the  County  of  Middlesex,  at  the  City  of  Perth- 
Amboy,  on  the  third  Monday  of  September,  Second  7)fbw- 
rfay  of  December,  Fourth  Monday  of  February,  and  Fourth 
Monday  of  iJfay. 

For  the  County  of  Somerset,  at  the  Court-house  of  the 
same  County,  on  the  Thursday  next  ensuing  after  the 
Third  Monday  of  September ;  The  Thursday  next  ensuing 
after  the  second  Monday  of  December ;  The  Thursday 
next  ensuing  after  the  Fourth  Monday  of  February ;  and 
the  Thursday  next  ensuing  after  the  Fourth  Monday  of 
May. 

For  the  Courity  of  Monmouth,  at  the  Court-house  of  the 
same  County,  on  th*i  first  Tuesday  of  October,  Third  Ti^es- 
<fay  of  December,  First  Tuesday  of  March,  and  Second 
Tuesday  of  /wne. 

For  the  County  of  Huuerdon,  at  the  Court-house  of 
the  same  County,  the  Third  Monday  of  October,  Fourth 
Monday  of  December,  Second  Monday  of  March,  and 
Fourth  Monday  of  July. 

For  the  County  of  Burlington,  at  the  Town-house  of 
Burlington,  on  the  Thursday  next  ensuing  after  the  Fourth 
Monday  of  JmZj/  ;  The  Thursday  next  ensuing  after  the 
Third  Monday  of  October ;  The  Thursday  next  ensuing  af- 


APPENDIX    E.  275 

ter  the  Fourth  Monday  of  Decejnher ;  and  the  Thursday 
next  ensuing  after  the  Second  Monday  of  March. 

For  the  County  of  Gloucester,  at  Gloucester,  on  the  Se- 
cond Monday  of  August,  Fourth  Monday  of  October,  First 
Monday  of  January,  and  Third  Monday  of  March. 

For  the  County  of  Salem,  at  Salem,  on  the  Thursday 
next  ensuing  after  the  Second  Monday  of  August ;  The 
Thursday  next  ensuing  after  the  Fourth  Monday  of  Octo- 
ber ;  The  Thursday  next  ensuing  after  the  First  Monday 
oi  January ;  and  the  Thursday  next  ensuing  after  the  Third 
Monday  of  March. 

For  the  County  of  Cape-May,  at  Cape-May,  the  Se- 
cond Tuesday  of  July,  the  First  Tuesday  of  November,  the 
Second  Tuesday  of  January,  and  the  First  Tuesday  of 
April.     And  shall  sit  any  time,  not  exceeding  Three  Days. 

J.w(^  PFAereas  the  Times  of  the  Sitting  of  Our  Supreme 
Court  of  Our  said  Province  of  New- Jersey,  are,  by  Experi- 
ence, found  to  be  inconvenient,  and  to  occasion  Delay  in 
the  Administration  of  Justice,  to  the  great  Hurt  of  several 
of  Our  Loving  Subjects  who  have  Causes  depending  in  Our 
said  Supreme  Court.  For  Remedy  vv^hereof,  for  the  Fu- 
ture, We  have  thought  jit  to  Ordain,  and  do  hereby  Ordain 
and  Direct,  That  Our  Supreme  Court  of  Our  said  Province 
of  Neio- Jersey,  shall  sit  and  be  held  at  the  Places  following, 
and  shall  sit  at  and  during  the  Times  herein  after  men- 
tioned, That  is  to  say,  The  next  Supreme  Court  at  Bur- 
lington and  Amboy,  at  the  Times  unto  which  the  said 
Courts  were  last,  respectively,  Adjourned,  and  afterwards 
on  the  First  Tuesday  oi  August  at  Burlington,  the  Fourth 
Tuesday  of  September  at  Perth- Amboy.  The  last  Tuesday 
of  March  at  Burlington,  and  the  Third  Tuesday  of  May  at 
Perth-Amboy,  yearly.  Which  Supreme  Court  shall  Con- 
tinue for  any  Term  not  Exceeding  Five  Days,  and  is  here- 


276  APPENDIX    E. 

by  fully  impowered  to  have  Cognizance  of  all  Pleas,  Civil, 
Criminal  and  Mixt,  w^ithin  this  Province,  as  fully  and  am- 
ply, to  all  Intents,  Constructions  and  Purposes  whatsoever, 
as  the  Courts  of  Kings-Bench,  Common- Pleas  and  Exche- 
quer have,  or  ought  to  have  in  Our  Kingdom  of  Great  Bri- 
tain. In  which  Court  all  and  every  Person  or  Persons 
whatsoever  may  Commence  and  Prosecute  any  Action  or 
Suit,  Real,  Personal  or  Mixt,  above  the  Value  of  Five 
Pounds.  And  any  Action,  Suit  or  Controversie,  Informa- 
tion, Indictment,  or  Prosecution  Depending,  or  on  which 
Judgment  has  been  given  in  any  of  Our  Inferiour  Courts, 
may,  by  Certiorari,  Habeas  Corpus,  Writ  of  Error,  or 
any  other  Lawful  Writ  or  Method,  be  Removed  into  Our 
said  Supreme  Court,  from  any  of  the  Inferiour  Courts 
within  Our  said  Province. 

And  we  do  hereby  further  Ordain  and  Direct,  That  the 
Office  of  Clerk  of  the  said  Supreme  Court  of  Judicature 
shall  be  kept  by  himself  or  his  sufficient  Deputy,  at  Perth- 
Amboy  in  the  Eastern-Division,  and  Burlington  in  the 
Western-Division.  And  that  all  Writs  and  Process  of  the 
Supreme  Court  for  Our  Province  of  New- Jersey,  shall  issue 
out  of  the  Office  in  either  of  the  said  Places  indifferently, 
and  that  the  Courts  at  Perth-Amboy  and  Burlington,  shall 
take  Cognizance  of  such  Writs  and  Process  accordingly. 
Nevertheless  so,  that  all  Actions  and  Causes  of  Actions 
arising  in  either  the  Eastern  or  Western  Division  of  this 
Province,  are  to  be  Tryed  in,  and  a  Verdict  given  by  Ju- 
rors of  that  Division  only  in  which  the  Cause  of  Action 
shall  arise,  as  near  and  agreeable  to  the  Laws,  Customs 
and  Usages  in  Our  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain,  as  may  be. 

And  for  the  greater  Ease  and  Benefit  of  all  our  Loving 


APPENDIX    E.  277 

Subjects  inhabiting  withing  Our  Province  of  New-Jersey, 
and  of  all  Persons  whatsoever  in  taking  Recognizance  of 
'  Special  Bail  upon  all  Actions  and  Suits  depending,  or  to  be 
depending  in  Our  said  Supreme  Court  in  Our  said  Province 
of  New-Jersey.  We  do  hereby  Impower  any  two  of  Our 
Judges  of  Our  Supreme  Court,  of  which  Our  Chief  Jus- 
tice to  be  always  one,  to  grant  one  or  more  Commission  or 
Commissions  under  the  Seal  of  the  said  Supreme  Court, 
from  time  to  time,  as  need  shall  require,  to  impower  such 
and  so  many  Persons,  as  by  Our  said  Chief  Justice  and 
other  Judge  of  Our  Supreme  Court  aforesaid,  shall  be 
thought  fit  and  necessary,  in  all  and  every  of  the  several 
Counties  in  our  said  Province  of  New-Jersey,  to  take  and 
receive  all  and  every  such  Recognizance  or  Recognizances 
of  Bail  or  Bails,  as  any  Person  or  Persons  shall  be  willing 
and  desii'ous  to  acknowledge  or  make  before  any  of  the 
Persons  so  impowered,  in  any  Action  or  Suit  depending, 
or  hereafter  to  be  depending  in  Our  said  Supreme  Court  of 
Our  Province  of  Neiv-Jersey,  in  such  manner  and  Form, 
and  by  such  Recognizance  or  Bail-Piece  as  the  Judges  of 
Our  Supreme  Court  have  here-to-fore  used  to  take  the 
same  ;  Which  said  Recognizance  or  Recognizances  of  Bail 
or  Bail-Piece  shall  be  Transmitted  to  some  one  of  the 
Judges  of  Our  Supreme  Court,  and  by  him  received,  upon 
payment  of  the  usual  Fees,  and  Affidavits  made,  according 
to  the  Directions  in  one  Act  of  the  Parliament  in  Eng- 
land, made  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  years  of  the  Reign  of  Our 
Royal  Predecessors  William  and  Mary,  King  and  Queen 
of  England,  Scotland,  France  and  Ireland,  &c.,  Entituled, 
An  Act  for  taking  Special  Bails  in  the  Country,  upon  Ac- 
tions and  Suits  depending  in  the  Courts  of  Kings-Bench, 
Common-Pleas  and  Exchequer  at  Westminster.  Which 
Act  of  Parliament  We  hereby  Recommend  to  Our  Judges 


278 


APPENDIX    E. 


of  Our  Supreme  Court  of  Our  said  Province  of  New-Jersey, 
and  to  the  Persons  by  them  impowered  to  take  and  receive 
Recognizances  of  Special  Bail,  as  a  Direction  to  Govern 
themselves  by,  as  nearly  as  the  Circumstances  of  Our  said 
Province  of  New-Jersey  will  admit  the  same  to  be  done. 

And  Whereas  the  bringing  of  Jurors  and  Evidences 
from  the  several  Counties  within  Our  Province  of  New- 
Jersey,  will  be  at  the  great  Charge  and  Expense  of  such  of 
Our  Loving  Subjects  as  have  Causes  Depending,  or  that 
will  be  Depending  in  Our  Supreme  Court  of  Our  said  Pro- 
vince of  New-Jersey,  We  do,  for  the  ease  and  benefit  of 
Our  said  Loving  Subjects, /M7'i/ier  Ordain,  That  Our  Chief 
Justice  or  other  Justice  of  Our  Supreme  Court,  shall  annu- 
ally and  every  Year  (if  there  be  occasion)  go  into  every 
County  in  our  said  Province,  except  the  Counties  of  Ber- 
gen and  Cape-May,  and  there  hold  a  Court  for  the  Tryal 
of  such  Causes  arising  in  the  several  and  Respective  Coun- 
ties, as  are  brought  to  Issue  in  our  said  Supreme  Court ; 
which  Causes  our  Chief  Justice  or  other  Justice  of  our  said 
Supreme  Court,  is  hereby  Impowered  to  hear  and  try,  by 
Jurors  of  the  said  Counties,  and  on  any  Verdict  in  any  of 
the  said  Counties,  within  our  said  Province,  Judgment  to 
Give,  at  our  next  Supreme  Court  of  Judicature,  to  be  hold- 
en  at  our  City  of  Perth-Amboy,  or  Town  of  Burlington, 
after  such  Verdict  given  in  any  of  the  said  Counties,  within 
our  said  Province  of  New-Jersey ;  which  Court  for  Tryal  of 
Causes  shall  be  held  in  our  several  Counties,  excepting 
Bergen  and  Cape-May,  for  and  during  a  Term  not  exceed- 
ing Five  Days,  and  at  the  Times  and  Places  following,  that 
is  to  say. 

For  the  Counties  of  Essex  and  Bergen,  on  the  first 
Thursday  after  the  second  Monday  of  May,  at  Newark. 


APPENDIX    E.  279 

For  the  County  of  Somerset,  the  Thursday  next  ensu- 
ing after  the  fourth  Monday  of  May,  at  the  Court-house  of 
the  same  County. 

For  the  County  of  Monmouth,  the  first  Tuesday  of  Oc- 
tober, at  Freehold. 

'  For  the  County  of  Hunterdon,  the  fourth  Monday  of 
July,  at  Trent-Town. 

For  the  County  of  Gloucester,  the  Thursday  next  en- 
suing after  the  third  Monday  oi  July,  at  Gloucester. 

For  the  Counties  of  Salem  and  Cape-May,  the  third 
Monday  o^  July. 

Hereby  Requiring  and  Commanding  Our  High-Sheriff, 
Justices  of  the  Peace,  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen  of  any 
Corporation  within  any  of  Our  said  Counties,  and  all  Offi- 
cers, Magisterial  and  Ministerial  of  any  Courts  within  Our 
said  Counties,  to  be  Attending  on  our  Chief  Justice,  or  other 
Justices  going  the  Circuit,  at  his  Coming  into  and  Leaving 
their  several  Counties,  and  during  his  Abode  within  the 
same,  on  Penalty  to  be  proceeded  against  according  to 
Law,  for  their  or  any  of  their  Neglect  and  Contempt  of 
Our  Royal  Authority  and  Command  hereby  signified. 

And  it  is  further  Ordained,  That  the  Commissioners 
to  le  appointed  for  Taking  of  Special  Bails  in  the  respec- 
tive Counties  of  this  Province,  for  every  Bail-piece  taken 
by  them,  shall  take  the  Sum  of  Three  Shillings,  and  no 
more.  And  the  Commissioners  for  Taking  of  Affidavits, 
for  every  Sheet  in  an  Affidavit,  One  Shilling,  and  no 
more. 

In  Testimony  whereof  We  have  caused  these  Our  Letters 
to  be  made  Patent,  and  the  Seal  of  Our  Province  of 
New-Jersey  to    be    thereunto  Affixed.      Witness  Our 


280  APPENDIX    E. 

Trusty  &  Well-beloved  William  Burnet,  Esq.,  Capt. 
General  and  Governour  in  Chief  of  the  Provinces  of 
New- Jersey,  New-Yorh,  and  Territories  thereon  de- 
pending in  America,  and  Vice-Admiral  of  the  same, 
&c.,  in  Council  at  Perth- Amboy,  the  23rd  Day  of  April, 
in  the  Tenth  year  of  Our  Reign,  Annoq.  Domini,  1724. 


APPENDIX  F. 


An  Ordinance  for  Regulating  the  Courts  of  Judica- 
ture in  the  Province  of  New- Jersey. 

GEORGE,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  of  Great  Britain, 
France  and  Ireland,  KING,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  &c. 
Whereas  We  have  thought  fit,  by  Advice  of  the  most 
Honourable,  the  Lords  of  Our  Privy  Council,  at  Our  Court 
at  St.  James's,  on  the  Twentieth  Day  af  January,  in  the 
Eighth  Year  of  Our  Reign,  to  Disallow  some  Laws  or  Acts 
of  General  Assembly  of  the  Province  of  New- Jersey,  made 
and  Enacted  by  the  Governour,  Council  and  Representa- 
tives of  that  Province  in  General  Assembly  met,  viz..  One 
entituled,  An  Act  for  shortening  of  Law  Suits  and  Regulat- 
ing the  Practice  of  the  Law  ;  One  other  Act,  entituled,  An 
Act  for  Acknowledging  and  Recording  of  Deeds  and  Con- 
veyances of  Land  within  each  respective  County  of  this 
Province ;  and  one  other  Act,  entituled.  An  Act  for  En- 
forcing the  Observation  of  an  Ordinance  for  Establishing 
Fees  within  this  Province.  And  Whereas  a  late  Ordi- 
nance for  Establishing  Courts  of  Judicature  within  the 
same  Province,  was  in  some  measure  made  conformable  to 
one  of  the  said  Laws,  so  as  aforesaid  Disallowed.     And 


282  APPENDIX    F. 

whereas  another  Ordinance  was  made,  bearing  Date  the 
Twenty -ninth  Day  of  April,  1723,  upon  the  Repeal  of  the 
said  Acts,  for  Regulating  of  Courts  of  Judicature,  which  is 
found  inconvenient  to  the  Inhabitants  of  this  Province, 
both  as  to  the  Times  of  the  Sitting  of  the  Courts,  and  for 
want  of  Persons  authorized  to  take  Bail  in  the  Counties, 
and  of  Courts  for  Tryals  of  Causes  in  the  Counties,  that 
came  to  issue  in  the  Supreme  Court,  We  have  therefore 
thought  fit  to  Ordain,  and  We  do  hereby  Ordain,  Direct 
and  Impower  Every  Justice  of  the  Peace  residing  within 
any  Town  or  County  in  the  Province  oi  Nova-Ccssarea  or 
New-Jersey,  to  have  Cognizance  of  all  Causes  and  Cases 
of  Debt  and  Trespass,  of  the  Value  of  Forty  Shillings,  or 
under;  All  which  Causes  and  Cases  shall  and  may  be 
Heard,  Tryed  and  finally  Determined,  without  a  Jury,  by 
any  of  the  said  Justices  of  the  Peace,  as  aforesaid.  Except- 
ing such  Cases  where  the  Titles  of  Land  are  or  may  be 
any  wise  concerned. 

AND  We  do  hereby  further  Ordain  and  Direct,  That 
the  Process  of  Warning  against  Free-holders  and  Inhabi- 
tants shall  be  by  Summons  under  the  Hand  of  any  of  the 
said  Justices  of  the  Peace,  directed  to  the  Constable  of  the 
Town  or  Precinct,  or  to  any  deputed  by  him,  where  the 
Party  Complained  against  doth  dwell  or  reside.  Which 
Summons  shall  be  served  upon  the  Person  or  left  at  the 
House  or  Place  of  Abode  of  the  Defendant,  Four  Days,  at 
least,  before  the  Time  appointed  for  the  Hearing  of  the 
Plaint.  And  in  case  the  Defendant  does  not  appear  at  the 
time  appointed,  on  Affidavit  made  by  the  said  Constable  or 
his  Deputy,  That  the  said  Summons  was  duly  served  on 
the  Defendant's  Person  or  left  at  the  Defendant's  House  or 
Place  of  Abode,  with  some  of  the  Family  of  the  said  De- 
fendant, the  Justice    granting    such  Summons  may,  and 


APPENDIX    F.  283 

shall  not  otherwise,  proceed  to  Hear  such  Cause  or  Causes, 
and  Determine  the  same  in  the  Defendant's  Absence,  and 
grant  Execution  thereupon,  directed  to  any  of  the  Consta- 
bles, or  Deputy  Constables,  to  be  levyed  upon  the  Defend- 
ant's Goods  and  Chatties,  and  for  want  thereof  upon  the 
Person  of  the  Defendant,  which  he  is  hereby  Impowered 
and  Directed  to  execute  accordingly. 

And  We  do  hereby  further  Ordain  and  Direct,  That 
the  Process  against  an  Itinerant  Person,  Inmate  or  For- 
reigner  shall  be  by  Warrant  from  any  one  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  to  be  served  by  any  Constable  or  his  Deputy  within 
that  County,  who  shall,  by  virtue  thereof.  Arrest  the  Party, 
and  him  safely  keep  till  he  shall  be  carried  before  the  said 
Justice,  who  shall  and  may  immediately  Hear,  Try  and 
finally  Determine  all  such  Causes  and  Cases  of  Debt  and 
Trespass,  as  aforesaid,  to  the  Value  of  Forty  Shillings,  or 
under,  by  Awarding  Judgment  and  Execution.  And  if 
Payment  be  not  immediately  made,  the  Constable  shall  de- 
liver the  said  Party  to  the  Sheriff  of  that  County,  who  is 
hereby  Required  and  Impowered  to  take  him  into  Custody, 
and  him  safely  keep  until  Payment  be  made  of  the  same, 
with  Charges. 

Provided  always,  and  We  do  hereby  further  Ordain 
and  Direct,  That  an  Appeal  shall  be  allowed  to  the  Jus- 
tices of  the  same  County  at  the  next  General  Court  of  Ses- 
sions of  the  Peace  held,  for  any  Sum  upwards  of  Ten  Shil- 
lings, in  all  Causes  or  Cases  Cognizable  before  them. 

And  Whereas  We  are  given  to  understand,  that  many 
of  the  Inhabitants  of  Our  said  Province  live  Remote  from 
the  Places  in  which  We  have  appointed  Our  Supream 
Court  to  be  held,  and  that  it  will  be  of  great  Ease  and 
Conveniency  to  the  said  Inhabitants  that  a  Court  be  held 
in  each  County,  for  Hearing,  Trying  and  Determining  of 


284  APPENDIX   F. 

such  Actions  and  Causes  of  Actions  as  shall  arise  within 
each  of  the  said  Counties,  and  Determinable  by  Juries  of 
the  same,  We  being  willing  and  desirous  to  promote  the 
Ease,  Wellbeing  and  Security  of  all  Our  Loving  Subjects, 
Inhabitants  of  the  said  Province  of  New-Jersey,  and  that 
Right  and  Justice  may  be  distributed  among  them,  and 
that  all  matters  of  Differences  may  be  Determined  by  their 
Equals  and  Neighbors,  as  nigh  as  the  present  Circum- 
stances of  Our  said  Province  will  admit,  according  to  the 
good  and  antient  Laws  and  Usages  of  Our  Kingdom  of 
Great  Britain:  Do  Ordain  and  Direct,  That  the  County 
Courts  for  holding  of  Pleas,  continue  to  be  held  and  kept  in 
each  of  the  several  and  respective  Counties  of  Our  Pro- 
vince of  New-Jersey,  to  Hear,  and  by  the  Verdict  of 
Twelve  Good  Honest  and  Lawful  Free-holders  inhabiting 
within  the  said  respective  County  where  the  said  Court  is 
held,  to  Try  and  Determine  all  Suits,  Controversies,  Quar- 
rels and  Differences  that  may  arise  within  the  said  County 
between  Our  Loving  Subjects,  for  any  Sum  above  the  Va- 
lue of  Forty  Shillings,  (Causes  wherein  the  Right  or  Title 
of  any  Lands,  Tenements  or  Hereditaments  in  any  wise 
concerned,  Excepted,)  Which  said  Suits,  Controversies, 
Quarrels  and  Differences  shall  be  Tryed  and  Determined 
in  the  said  Courts  by  a  Jury  of  Twelve  Good  and  Lawful 
Free-holders  as  aforesaid,  and  not  otherwise. 

And  Whereas  it  may  so  happen,  that  by  the  Craft  and 
Artful  Practice  of  the  Persons  Concerned  in  the  said 
Causes,  Quarrels  and  Controversies  Tryable  in  the  said 
County  Courts  for  holding  of  Pleas,  the  said  Causes,  Quar- 
rels and  Controversies  may  be  drawn,  contrary  to  Our 
Royal  Intention,  from  the  Examination  of  the  Jury,  to  the 
great  Delay  and  Hindrance  of  Justice ;  and  it  may  also 
happen,  that  upon  special  Verdicts  given  in  Our  said  Coun- 


APPENDIX    F.  285 

ty  Courts  for  holding  of  Pleas,  and  upon  the  Pleadings  be- 
fore and  after  Verdicts,  Matters  of  Law  may  arise,  We 
have  therefore  thought  fit  to  Ordain  and  Direct,  That  on 
any  Special  Verdict  found  by  a  Jury  in  any  of  the  said 
Courts,  or  any  Joynder  in  Demurrer,  or  Pleading  before  or 
after  Verdict,  whereby  any  Points  of  Law  may  be  in  issue, 
(such  Points  of  Law  as  are  necessary  to  be  Determined  by 
the  Judges  of  the  said  Courts,  and  for  the  Regulation  and 
Information  of  the  Jury,  only  Excepted,)  That  then  and  in 
such  Case,  the  Clerk  of  any  of  the  said  County  Courts,  re- 
spectively, where  the  same  shall  happen,  shall  make  up  a 
Record  of  all  the  Pleadings  or  Special  Verdicts,  as  the  case 
may  happen,  and  Transmit  the  same  to  the  Chief  Justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  at  the  next  Supreme  Court  that  shall 
sit  after  such  Joinder  in  Demurrer,  Pleading  made  or  Spe- 
cial Verdict  given,  that  Judgment  may  be  given  thereon, 
by  the  Justices  of  Our  Supreme  Court. 

And  We  do  hereby  Ordain  and  Direct,  that  the  Courts 
of  General  Sessions  of  the  Peace,  and  County  Courts  for 
holding  of  Pleas,  shall  be  held  and  kept  in  each  respective 
County  within  this  Province,  at  the  Times  and  Places  here- 
after mentioned,  that  is  to  say.  The  first  and  next  Court  of 
Sessions  and  Pleas,  at  the  Times  and  Places  to  which  the 
same  Courts  were  respectively  Adjourned,  and  afterwards, 
in  every  year,  to  be  Opened  on  the  following  Days,  viz. 

For  the  County  of  Bergen,  at  the  Court-house  of  the 
said  County  on  the  second  Monday  of  September,  first 
Monday  of  December,  third  Monday  of  February,  and  se- 
cond Monday  of  May. 

For  the  County  of  Essex,  at  Newark,  on  the  Thursday 
next  ensuing  after  the  second  Monday  of  September  ;  the 
Thursday  next  ensuing  after  the  first  Monday  of  Decem- 
ber; the  Thursday  next  ensuing  after  the  third  Monday  of 


286  APPENDIX    F. 

February ;  the  Thursday  next  ensuing  after  the  second 
Monday  of  May. 

For  the  County  of  Middlesex,  at  the  City  of  Perth- 
Amboy,  on  the  third  Monday  of  September,  second  Monday 
of  December,  fourth  Monday  of  February,  and  fourth  Mon- 
day of  May. 

For  the  County  of  Somerset,  at  the  Court-house  of  the 
same  County,  on  the  Thursday  next  ensuing  after  the 
third  Monday  of  September ;  the  Thursday  next  ensuing 
after  the  second  Monday  of  December ;  the  Thursday  next 
ensuing  after  the  fourth  Monday  of  February;  and  the 
Thursday  next  ensuing  after  the  fourth  Monday  of 
May. 

For  the  County  of  Monmouth,  at  the  Court-house  of  the 
same  County,  on  the  first  Monday  of  October,  third  Mon- 
day of  December,  first  Monday  of  March,  and  second  Mow- 
</ay  of  /wwe. 

For  the  County  of  Hunterdon,  at  the  Court-house  of 
the  same  County,  the  third  Monday  of  October,  fourth  Mon- 
day of  December,  second  Monday  of  March,  fourth  Mon- 
day of  July. 

For  the  County  of  Burlington,  at  the  Town-house  of 
Burlington,  on  the  Thursday  next  ensuing  after  the  fourth 
Monday  of  July ;  the  Thursday  next  ensuing  after  the 
third  Monday  of  October ;  the  Thursday  next  ensuing  af- 
ter the  fourth  Monday  of  December ;  and  the  Thursday 
next  ensuing  after  the  second  Monday  of  March. 

For  the  County  of  Gloucester,  at  Gloucester,  on  the  se- 
cond Monday  of  August,  fourth  Monday  of  October,  first 
Monday  of  January,  and  third  Monday  of  March. 

For  the  County  of  Salem,  on  the  Thursday  next  ensuing 
after  the  second  Monday  of  August ;  the  Thursday  next 
ensuing  after  the  fourth  Monday  of  October ;  the  Thursday 


APPENDIX    F. 


next  ensuing  after  the  first  Monday  of  January ;  and  the 
Thursday  next  ensuing  after  the  third  Monday  of  March. 

For  the  County  of  Cape-May,  at  Cape-May,  the  se- 
cond Monday  of  July,  the  first  Monday  of  November,  the 
second  Monday  of  January,  and  the  first  Monday  of  April. 
And  shall  sit  any  time,  not  exceeding  Three  Days. 

And  Whereas  the  Times  of  the  Sitting  of  Our  Supreme 
Court  of  Our  said  Province  of  New-Jersey,  are,  by  Experi- 
ence, found  to  be  inconvenient,  and  to  occasion  Delay  in 
the  Administration  of  Justice,  to  the  great  Hurt  of  several 
of  our  Loving  Subjects  who  have  Causes  depending  in  Our 
said  Supreme  Court.  For  Remedy  whereof,  for  the  Fu- 
ture, We  have  thought  Jit  to  Ordain,  and  do  hereby  Ordain 
and  Direct,  That  Our  Supreme  Court  of  Our  said  Pro- 
vince of  New-Jersey  shall  sit  and  be  held  at  the  Places  fol- 
lowing, and  shall  sit  at  and  during  the  Times  herein  after 
mentioned.  That  is  to  say,  The  next  Supreme  Court  at 
Burlington  and  Amboy,  at  the  Times  unto  which  the  said 
Courts  were  last  respectfully.  Adjourned,  and  afterwards 
on  the  last  Monday  of  March  at  Burlington,  the  third 
Monday  of  May  at  Perth- Amboy.  The  first  Monday  of 
August  at  Burlington,  and  the  fourth  Monday  of  Septem- 
ber at  Perth-Amboy,  yearly.  Which  Supreme  Court  shall 
continue  for  any  Term  not  Exceeding  Six  Days,  and  is 
hereby  impowered  to  have  Cognizance  of  all  Pleas,  Civil, 
Criminal  and  Mixt,  within  this  Province,  as  fully  and  am- 
ply, to  all  Intents,  Constructions  and  Purposes  whatsoever, 
as  the  Courts  of  Kings  Bench,  Common  Pleas  and  Exche- 
quer have,  or  ought  to  have  in  our  Kingdom  of  Great  Bri- 
tain. In  which  Court  all  and  every  Person  and  Persons 
whatsoever  may  Commence  and  Prosecute  any  Action  or 
Suit,  Real,  Personal  or  Mixt,  above  the  Value  of  Five 
Pounds.     And  any  Action,  Suit  or  Controversie,  Informa- 


288  APPENDIX    F. 

tion,  Indictment,  or  Prosecution  Depending,  or  on  which 
Judgment  has  been  given  in  any  of  Our  Inferiour  Courts, 
may,  by  Certiorari,  Habeas  Corpus,  Wints  of  Error,  or 
any  other  Lawful  Writ  or  Method,  be  Removed  into  Our 
said  Supreme  Court,  from  any  of  the  Inferiour  Courts 
within  Our  said  Province. 

And  We  do  hej^ehy  further  Ordain  and  Direct,  That 
the  Office  of  tiie  Clerk  of  the  said  Supreme  Court  of  Judi- 
cature shall  be  kept  by  himself  or  his  sufficient  Deputy,  at 
Perth-Amhoy  in  the  Eastern  Division,  and  Burlington  in 
the  Western  Division.  And  that  all  Writs  and  Process  of 
the  Supreme  Court  for  Our  Province  of  New-Jersey,  shall 
issue  out  of  either  of  the  said  Places  indifferently,  and  that 
the  Courts  of  Perth-Amhoy  and  Burlington,  shall  take  Cog- 
nizance of  such  Writs  and  Process  accordingly.  Never- 
theless so,  that  all  Actions  and  Causes  of  Actions  arising  in 
either  the  Eastern  or  Western  Division  of  this  Province, 
are  to  be  Tryed  in,  and  a  Verdict  given  by  Jurors  of  that 
Division  only  in  which  the  Cause  of  Action  shall  arise,  as 
near  and  agreeable  to  the  Laws,  Customs  and  Usages  of 
Our  said  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain,  as  may  be. 

And  in  which  soever  of  the  Divisions  the  Venue  is  laid, 
there  shall  the  Declarations,  Pleas,  and  all  other  Pleadings 
in  that  Cause  be  filed. 

And  for  the  greater  Ease  and  Benefit  of  all  Our  Loving 
Subjects  inhabiting  within  Our  said  Province  of  New-Jer- 
sey, and  of  all  Persons  whatsoever  in  taking  Recognizances 
of  Special  Bail  upon  all  Actions  and  Suits  depending,  or  to 
be  depending  in  Our  said  Supreme  Court  in  our  said  Pro- 
vince of  New-Jersey,  We  do  hereby  Impower  any  two  of 
Our  Judges  of  Our  Supreme  Court,  of  which  Our  Chief 
Justice  to  be  always  one,  to  grant  one  or  more  Commis- 
sion or  Commissions  under  the  Seal  of  the  said  Supreme 


APPENDIX    F. 


389 


Court,  from  time  to  time,  as  need  shall  require,  to  impower 
such  and  so  many  Persons,  as  by  Our  said  Chief  Justice 
and  other  Judge  of  Our  Supreme  Court  aforesaid,  shall  be 
thought  fit    and    necessary,  in  all  and  every  the  several 
Counties  in  Our  said  Province  of  New-Jersey,  to  take  and 
receive  all  and  every  such  Recognizance  or  Recognizances 
of  Bail  or  Bails,  as  any  Person  or  Persons  shall  be  willing 
and  desirous  to  acknowledge  or  make  before  any  of  the 
Persons  so  impowered,  in  any  Action  or  Suit  depending, 
or  hereafter  to  be  depending  in  Our  said  Supreme  Court  of 
Our  Province  of  New-Jersey,  in  such   manner  and  form, 
and  by  such  Recognizance  or  Bail-piece  as  the  Judges  of 
Our  Supreme  Court  have  here-to-fore  used  to  take  the  same; 
Which  said  Recognizance  or  Recognizances  of  Bail  or  Bail- 
pieces  shall  be  Transmitted  to  some  one  of  the  Judges  of 
Our  Supreme  Court,  and  by  him  received,  upon  payment 
of  the  usual  Fees,  and  Affidavits  made,  according  to  the 
Directions  in  one  Act  of  the  Parliament  in  England,  made  in 
the  fourth  and  fifth  years  of  the  Reign  of  Our  Royal  Pre- 
decessors William  and  Mary,  King  and  Queen  of  England, 
Scotland,  France  and  Ireland,  &c.,  Entituled,  An  Act  for  tak- 
ing Special  Bails  in  the  Country,  upon  Actions  and  Suits  de- 
pending in  the  Courts  of  Kings  Bench,  Common  Pleas  and 
Exchequer   at  Westminster.     Which  Act  of  Parliament 
We  hereby  Recommend  to  Our  Judges  of  Our  Supreme 
Court  in  Our  said  Province  of  New- Jersey,  and  to  the  Per- 
sons by  them  impowered  to  take  and  receive  Recogni- 
zances of  Special  Bail,  as  a  Direction  to  Govern  themselves 
by,  as  nearly  as  the  Circumstances  of  Our  said  Province  of 
New-Jersey  will  admit  the  same  to  be  done. 

And  Whereas  the  bringing  of  Juries  and  Evidences 
from  the  several  Counties  within  Our  Province  of  New- 
Jersey,  will  be  at  the  great  Charge  and  Expense  of  such  of 
19 


290  APPENDIX   F. 

Our  Loving  Subjects  as  have  Causes  Depending,  or  that 
will  be  Depending  in  Our  Supreme  Court  of  Our  said  Pro- 
vince of  New-Jersey,  We  do,  for  the  ease  and  benefit  of 
Our  said  Loving  Subjects, /wrMer  Ordain,  That  Our  Chief 
Justice  or  other  Justices  of  Our  Supreme  Court,  shall  an- 
nually and  every  Year  (if  there  be  occasion)  go  into  every 
County  in  Our  said  Province,  except  the  County  of  Cape- 
May,  and  there  to  hold  a  Court  for  the  Tryal  of  such 
Causes  arising  in  the  several  and  Respective  Counties,  as 
are  brought  to  Issue  in  Our  said  Supreme  Court,  which 
Causes  Our  Chief  Justice  or  other  Justices  of  Our  said  Su- 
preme Court,  is  hereby  Impowered  to  hear  and  try,  by  Ju- 
rors of  the  said  Counties,  and  on  any  Verdict  in  any  of  the 
said  Counties,  within  Our  said  Province,  Judgment  to  Give, 
at  Our  next  Supreme  Court  of  Judicature,  to  be  holden  at 
Our  City  oi  Perth- Amhoy,  or  Town  oi Burlington,  after  such 
Verdict  given  in  any  of  the  said  Counties,  within  Our  said 
Province  of  New-Jersey ;  which  Court  for  Tryal  of  Causes 
shall  be  held  in  our  several  Counties,  excepting  Cape-May, 
for  and  during  a  Term  not  exceeding  Five  Days,  and  at 
the  Times  and  Places  following,  that  is  to  say. 

For  the  County  of  Ber-gen,  on  the  second  Monday  of 
May,  at  Hackinsack. 

For  the  County  of  Essex,  on  the  first  Thursday  after 
the  second  Monday  of  May,  at  Newark. 

For  the  County  of  Somerset,  the  Thursday  next  ensu- 
ing after  the  fourth  Monday  of  May,  at  the  Court-house  of 
the  same  County. 

For  the  County  of  Monmouth,  the  first  Tuesday  of  Oc- 
tober, at  Freehold. 

For  the  County  of  Hunterdon,  the  fourth  Monday  of 
July,  at  Trent-Town. 

For  the  County  of  Gloucester,  the  Thursday  next  ensu- 
ing after  the  third  Monday  of  July,  at  Gloucester. 


APPENDIX    F.  291 

For  the  Counties  of  Salem  and  Cape-May,  the  third 
Monday  of  July. 

Hereby  Requiring  and  Commanding  Our  High-Sheriff, 
Justices  of  the  Peace,  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen  of  any 
Corporation  within  any  of  Our  said  Counties,  and  all  Offi- 
cers, Magisterial  and  Ministerial  of  any  Courts  within  Our 
said  Counties,  to  be  Attending  on  Our  Chief  Justice,  or 
other  Justice  going  the  Circuit,  at  his  Coming  into  and 
Leaving  their  several  Counties,  and  during  his  Abode 
within  the  same,  on  Penalty  to  be  proceeded  against  ac- 
cording to  Law,  for  their  or  any  of  their  Neglect  and  Con- 
tempt of  Our  Royal  Authority  and  Command  hereby  sig- 
nified. 

And  it  is  further  Ordained,  That  the  Commissioners  to 
be  appointed  for  Taking  of  Special  Bails  in  the  respective 
Counties  of  this  Province,  for  every  Bail-piece  taken  by 
them,  they  shall  take  the  Sum  of  Three  Shillings,  and  no 
more.  And  the  Commissioners  for  Taking  of  Affidavits, 
for  every  Sheet  in  an  Affidavit,  One  Shilling,  and  no 
more. 

In  Testimony  wherof  We  have  caused  these  Our  Letters 
to  be  made  Patent,  and  the  Seal  of  Our  Province  of 
New-Jersey  to  be  thereunto  Affixed.  Witness  Our 
Trusty  &  Well-beloved  William  Burnet,  Esq.,  General 
and  Governour  in  Chief  of  the  Provinces  of  New-Jersey, 
New-York,  and  Territories  thereon  depending  in  Ame- 
rica, and  Vice-Admiral  of  the  same,  &c.,  in  Council  at 
Perth-Amhoy,  the  Twenty-first  Day  of  August,  in  the 
Twelfth  year  of  Our  Reign,  1725. 

SMITH. 


APPENDIX    G. 


An  Ordinance  for  Regulating  Courts  of  Judicature 
in  the  Province  oi  New- Jersey. 

GEORGE  the  Second,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  of  Great 
Britain,  France  and  Ireland,  KING,  Defender  of  the  Faith, 
&c.  Whereas  the  present  Ordinance  for  Regulating  Courts 
of  Judicature  is  found  inconvenient  to  the  Inhabitants  of  this 
Province,  We  have  therefore  thought  fit  to  Ordain,  and  We 
do  hereby  Ordain,  Direct  and  Impower  Every  Justice  of 
the  Peace  residing  within  any  Town  or  County  in  the  Pro- 
vince of  Nova-CcBsarea  or  New- Jersey,  to  have  Cognizance 
of  all  Causes  and  Cases  of  Debt  and  Trespass,  of  the  Value 
of  Forty  Shillings,  or  under  ;  All  which  Causes  and  Cases 
shall  and  may  be  Heard,  Tryed  and  finally  Determined, 
without  a  Jury,  by  any  of  the  said  Justices  of  the  Peace, 
as  aforesaid.  Excepting  such  Cases  where  the  Titles  of 
Land  are  or  may  be  any  wise  concerned. 

AND  We  do  hereby  further  Ordain  and  Direct,  That 
Process  of  Warning  against  Free-holders  and  Inhabitants 
shall  be  by  Summons  under  the  Hand  of  any  of  the  said 


APPENDIX    G. 


293 


Justices  of  the  Peace,  directed  to  the  Constable  of  the 
Town  or  Precinct,  or  to  any  deputed  by  him,  where  the 
Party  Complained  against  doth  dwell  or  reside.  Which 
Summons  shall  be  served  upon  the  Person  or  left  at  the 
House  or  Place  of  Abode  of  the  Defendant,  Four  Days,  at 
least,  before  the  Time  appointed  for  the  Hearing  of  the 
Plaint.  And  in  case  the  Defendant  does  not  appear  at  the 
time  appointed,  on  Affidavit  made  by  the  said  Constable  or 
his  Deputy,  Thdt  the  said  Summons  was  duly  served  on 
the  Defendant's  Person  or  left  at  the  Defendant's  House  or 
Place  of  Abode,  with  some  of  the  Family  of  the  said  De- 
fendant, the  Justice  granting  such  Summons  may,  and  shall 
not  otherwise,  proceed  to  Hear  such  Cause  or  Causes,  and 
Determine  the  same  in  the  Defendant's  Absence,  and  grant 
Execution  thereupon,  directed  to  any  of  the  Constables  or 
Deputy  Constables,  to  be  levyed  upon  the  Defendant's 
Goods  and  Chattels,  and  for  want  thereof  upon  the  Person 
of  the  Defendant,  which  he  is  hereby  Impowered  and  Di- 
rected to  execute  accordingly. 

And  We  do  hereby  further  Ordain  and  Direct,  That  the 
Process  against  an  Itinerant  Person,  Inmate  or  Foreigner 
shall  be  by  Warrant  from  any  one  Justice  of  the  Peace,  to 
be  served  by  any  Constable  or  his  Deputy  within  that 
County,  who  shall,  by  virtue  thereof.  Arrest  the  Party, 
and  him  safely  keep  till  he  shall  be  carried  before  the  said 
Justice,  who  shall  and  may  immediately  Hear,  Try,  and 
finally  Determine  all  such  Causes  and  Cases  of  Debt  and 
Trespass,  as  aforesaid,  to  the  Value  of  Forty  Shilliiigs,  or 
under,  by  Awarding  Judgment  and  Execution.  And  if 
Payment  be  not  immediately  made,  the  Constable  shall  de- 
liver the  said  Party  to  the  Sheriff  of  that  County,  who  is 
hereby  Required  and  Impowered  to  take  him  into  Custody, 


294  APPENDIX    G. 

and  him  safely  keep  until  Payment  be  made  of  the  same, 
with  Charges. 

Provided  always,  and  We  do  hereby  further  Ordain 
and  Direct,  That  an  Appeal  shall  be  allowed  to  the  Jus- 
tices of  the  same  County  at  the  next  General  Court  of  Ses- 
sions of  the  Peace  held,  for  any  Sum  upwards  of  Ten  Shil- 
lings, in  all  Causes  or  Cases  cognizable  before  them. 

And  Whereas  We  are  given  to  understand,  that  many 
of  the  Inhabitants  of  Our  said  Province  live  Remote  from 
the  Places  in  which  We  have  appointed  Our  Supreme 
Court  to  be  held,  and  that  it  will  be  of  great  Ease  and  Con- 
veniency  to  the  said  Inhabitants  that  a  Court  be  held  in 
each  County,  for  the  Hearing,  Trying  and  Determining  of 
such  Actions  and  Causes  of  Actions  as  shall  arise  within 
each  of  the  said  Counties,  and  Determinable  by  Juries  of 
the  same,  We  being  willing  and  desirous  to  promote  the 
Ease,  Well-being  and  Security  of  all  Our  Loving  Subjects, 
Inhabitants  of  the  said  Province  of  New- Jersey,  and  that 
Right  and  Justice  might  be  distributed  among  them,  and 
that  all  matters  of  Difference  may  be  by  their  Equals  and 
Neighbors,  as  nigh  as  the  present  Circumstances  of  Our  said 
Province  will  admit,  according  to  the  good  and  ancient 
Laws  and  Usages  of  Our  Kingdom  of  G^'eat  Britain,  Do 
Ordain  and  Direct,  That  the  County  Courts  for  holding  of 
Pleas,  continue  to  be  held  and  kept  in  each  of  the  several 
and  respective  Counties  of  Our  Province  of  New- Jersey,  to 
Hear,  and  by  the  Verdict  of  Twelve  Good  Honest  and 
lawful  Free-holders  inhabiting  within  the  said  respective 
County  where  the  said  Court  is  held,  to  Try  and  Deter- 
mine all  Suits,  Controversies,  Quarrels  and  Differences  that 
may  arise  within  the  said  County  between  Our  Loving 


APPENDIX    G.  295 

Subjects,  for  any  Sum  above  the  Value  of  Forty  Shillings, 
(Causes  wherein  the  Right  or  Title  of  any  Lands,  Tene- 
ments or  Hereditaments  in  any  wise  concerned.  Excepted,) 
Which  said  Suits,  Controversies,  Quarrels  and  Differences 
shall  be  Tryed  and  Determined  in  the  said  Courts  by  a 
Jury  of  Twelve  Good  and  Lawful  Free-holders  as  afore- 
said, and  not  otherwise. 

And  Whereas  it  may  so  happen,  that  by  the  Craft  and 
Artful  Practice  of  the  Persons  Concerned  in  the  said 
Causes,  Quarrels  and  Controversies  Tryable  in  the  said 
County  Court  for  holding  of  Pleas,  the  said  Causes,  Quar- 
rels and  Controversies  may  be  drawn,  contrary  to  Our 
Royal  Intention,  from  the  Examination  of  the  Jury,  to  the 
great  Delay  and  Hindrance  of  Justice ;  and  it  may  also 
happen,  that  upon  special  Verdicts  given  in  Our  said  Coun- 
ty Courts  for  holding  of  Pleas,  and  upon  the  Pleadings  be- 
fore and  after  Verdicts,  Matters  of  Law  may  arise.  We 
have  therefore  thought  fit  to  Ordain  and  Direct,  That  on 
any  Special  Verdict  found  by  a  Jury  in  any  of  the  said 
Courts,  or  any  Joinder  in  Demurrer,  or  Pleading  before  or 
after  Verdict,  wherein  the  matter  of  Controversy  is  above 
Twenty  Pounds,  whereby  any  Points  of  Law  may  be  in  issue, 
(such  Points  of  Law  as  are  necessary  to  be  Determined  by 
the  Judges  of  the  said  Courts,  for  the  Regulation  and  In- 
formation of  the  Jury,  only  Excepted,)  That  then  and  in 
such  Case,  the  Clerks  of  any  of  the  said  County  Courts,  re- 
spectively, where  the  same  shall  happen,  shall  make  up  a 
Record  of  all  the  Pleadings  or  Special  Verdicts,  as  the  case 
may  happen,  and  Transmit  the  same  to  the  Chief  Justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  at  the  next  Supreme  Court  that  shall 
sit  after  such  Joinder  in  Demurrer,  Pleading  made  or  Spe- 
cial Verdict  given,  that  Judgment  may  be  given  thereon, 
by  the  Justices  of  Our  Supreme  Court. 


296  APPENDIX    G. 

And  We  do  herehy  Ordain  and  Direct,  that  the  Courts 
of  General  Sessions  of  the  Peace,  and  County  Courts  for 
holding  of  Pleas,  shall  be  held  and  kept  in  each  respective 
County  within  this  Province,  at  the  Times  and  Places  here- 
after mentioned,  that  is  to  say.  The  first  and  next  Court  of 
Sessions  and  Pleas,  at  the  Times  and  Places  to  which  the 
same  Courts  were  respectively  last  Adjourned,  and  after- 
wards, in  every  year,  to  be  Opened  on  the  following 
Days,  viz. 

For  the  County  of  Bergen,  at  the  Court-house  of  the 
said  County  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  June,  first  Tues- 
day of  October,  first  Tuesday  oi  January,  and  first  Tuesday 
of  April. 

For  the  County  of  Essex,  at  Newark,  on  the  third 
Tuesday  of  June,  fourth  Tuesday  of  September,  second 
Tuesday  of  January,  and  second  Tuesday  of  April. 

For  the  County  of  Middlesex,  at  the  City  of  Perth- 
Amboy,  on  the  third  Tuesday  of  Juhj,  second  Tuesday  of 
October,  third  Tuesday  of  January,  and  third  Tuesday  of 
April. 

For  the  County  of  Somerset,  at  the  Court-house  of  the 
same  County,  on  the  second  Tuesday  of  June,  first  Tues- 
day of  October,  first  Tuesday  of  January,  and  first  Tues- 
day of  April. 

For  the  County  oi  Monmouth,  at  the  Court-house  of  the 
same  County,  on  the  fourth  Tuesday  of  July,  third  Tues- 
day of  October,  fourth  Tuesday  of  January,  and  fourth 
Tuesday  of  April. 

For  the  County  of  Hunterdon,  at  the  Court-house  of  the 
same  County,  on  the  third  Tuesday  of  May,  first  Tuesday 
of  August,  fourth  Tuesday  of  October,  and  first  Tuesday  of 
February. 

For  the  County  of  Burlington,  at  the  Town-house  of 


APPENDIX    G.  297 

Burlington,  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  May,  second  Tuesday 
of  August,  first  Tuesday  of  November,  and  second  Tuesday 
of  February. 

For  the  County  of  Gloucester,  at  Gloucester,  on  the  se- 
cond Tuesday  of  June,  third  Tuesday  of  September,  fourth 
Tuesday  of  December,  and  fourth  Tuesday  of  March. 

For  the  County  of  Salem,  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  June, 
third  Tuesday  of  August,  fourth  Tuesday  of  November,  and 
third  Tuesday  of  February. 

For  the  County  of  Cape-May,  at  Cape-May,  the  third 
Tuesday  of  May,  first  Tuesday  of  August,  fourth  Tuesday 
of  October,  and  first  Tuesday  of  February.  And  shall  sit 
any  time  not  exceeding  Four  Days. 

And  Whereas  the  sitting  of  Our  Supreme  Court  of  Our 
said  Province  of  New- Jersey,  alternately  at  Burlington  and 
Amboy,  is,  by  Experience,  found  to  be  inconvenient,  and  to 
occasion  Intricacy  in  the  Administration  of  Justice,  to  the 
great  hurt  of  several  of  our  loving  Subjects  who  have 
Causes  depending  in  our  said  Supreme  Court,  For  Remedy 
whereof,  for  the  future,  We  have  thought  fit  to  Ordain,  and 
do  hereby  Ordain  and  Direct,  That  Our  Supreme  Court  of 
Our  said  Province  of  New-Jersey  shall  sit  and  be  held  at 
the  Time  unto  which  the  said  Court  was  last  adjourn'd, 
and  afterwards  there  shall  one  Supreme  Court  be  held  on 
the  first  Tuesday  of  May,  second  Tuesday  of  August,  first 
Tuesday  of  November,  and  third  Tuesday  of  February,  at 
Burlington^  yearly,  for  the  Western  Division  of  the  said 
Province. 

And  there  shall  be  one  other  Supreme  Court  held  on 
the  second  Tuesday  of  May,  third  Tuesday  of  August,  se- 
cond Tuesday  of  November,  and  fourth  Tuesday  of  Feb- 
ruary, at  Perth-Amboy,  yearly,  for  the  Eastern  Division  of 


298  APPENDIX    G. 

the  said  Province.  Which  Supreme  Courts  shall  continue 
for  any  term  not  exceeding  Five  Days,  and  are  hereby  im- 
powered  to  have  cognizance  of  all  Pleas,  civil,  criminal  and 
mixt,  within  the  respective  Divisions  of  this  Province,  as 
fully  and  amply,  to  all  intents,  constructions  and  purposes 
whatsoever,  as  the  Courts  of  Kings-Bench,  Common-Pleas 
and  Exchequer  have,  or  ought  to  have  in  Our  Kingdom  of 
Great  Britain.  In  which  Courts  all  and  every  Person  and 
Persons  whatsoever  may  commence  and  Prosecute  any 
Action  or  Suit,  Real,  Personal  or  mixt,  above  the  Value 
of  Twenty  Pounds.  And  any  Action,  Suit  or  controversy, 
information,  indictment,  or  prosecution  depending,  or  on 
which  Judgment  has  been  given  in  any  of  Our  Inferiour 
Courts  by  Law  Removeable,  may,  by  Certiorari,  Habeas 
Corpus,  Writ  of  Error,  or  any  other  Lawful  Writ  or 
Method,  be  Removed  into  Our  said  Supreme  Courts,  from 
any  of  the  Inferiour  Courts  within  Our  said  Province. 

And  We  do  herely  further  Ordain  and  Direct,  That  the 
Office  of  Clerk  of  the  said  Supreme  Court  of  Judicature 
shall  be  kept  by  himself  or  his  sufficient  Deputy,  at  Perth- 
Amhoy  in  the  Eastern  Division,  and  at  Burlington  in  the 
Western  Division,  And  that  all  Actions  and  causes  of  Ac- 
tions arising  in  either  the  Eastern  or  Western  Division  of 
this  Province,  are  to  be  Tryed  in,  and  a  Verdict  given  by 
the  Jurors  of  that  Division  only  in  which  the  Cause  of  Action 
shall  arise,  as  near  and  agreeable  to  the  Laws,  Customs 
and  Usages  in  Our  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain,  as  may  be. 

Provided  always.  That  no  Jurors  be  returned,  or  any 
Tryals  of  Causes  be  had  by  tl;ie  Country  in  the  Terms  of 
August  or  February,  but  the  same  shall  only  be  for  the  Re- 
turns of  other  Writs,  and  Law  Proceedings.  And  all  Try- 
als by  the  Country,  and  Returns  of  Juries  to  the  said  Courts 
shall  only  be  to  the  Terms  of  May  and  November. 


APPENDIX    G. 


And  for  the  greater  Ease  and  Benefit  of  all  our  Loving 
Subjects  inhabiting  withing  Our  said  Province  of  New-Jer- 
sey, and  of  all  Persons  whatsoever  in  taking  Recognizance  of 
Special  Bail  upon  all  Actions  and  Suits  depending,  or  to  be 
depending  in  Our  said  Supreme  Court  in  Our  said  Province 
of  New-Jersey,  We  do  hereby  Impower  any  two  of  Our 
Judges  of  Our  Supreme  Courts,  of  which  Our  Chief  Jus- 
tice to  be  always  one,  to  grant  one  or  more  Commission  or 
Commissions  under  the  Seal  of  the  said  Supreme  Courts, 
from  time  to  time,  as  need  shall  require,  to  impower  such 
and  so  many  Persons,  as  by  Our  said  Chief  Justice  and 
other  Judge  of  Our  Supreme  Courts  aforesaid,  shall  be 
thought  fit  and  necessary,  in  all  and  every  of  the  several 
Counties  in  Our  said  Province  of  New-Jersey,  to  take  and 
receive  all  and  every  such  Recognizance  or  Recognizances 
of  Bail  or  Bails,  as  any  Person  or  Persons  shall  be  will- 
ing and  desirous  to  acknowledge  or  make  before  the  Per- 
sons so  impowered,  in  any  Action  or  Suit  depending,  or 
hereafter  to  be  depending  in  Our  said  Supreme  Courts  of 
Our  said  Province  of  New- Jersey,  in  such  manner  and  form, 
and  by  such  Recognizance  or  Bail-piece  as  the  Judges  of 
Our  Supreme  Courts  have  here-to-fore  used  to  take  the 
same :  Which  said  Recognizance  or  Recognizances  of  Bail 
or  Bail-piece  shall  be  transmitted  to  some  one  of  the 
Judges  of  Our  Supreme  Courts,  and  by  him  received,  upon 
payment  of  the  usual  Fees,  and  Afiidavits  made,  according 
to  the  Directions  in  one  Act  of  Parliament  in  England, 
made  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  years  of  the  Reign  of  Our 
Royal  Predecessors  William  and  Mary,  King  and  Queen 
of  England,  Scotland,  France  and  L-eland,  &;c,,  Entituled 
An  Act  for  taking  Special  Bails  in  the  Country,  upon  Ac- 
tions and  Suits  depending  in  the  Courts  of  Kings-Bench, 
Common-Pleas  and  Exchequer  at   Westminster ;    Which 


300  APPENDIX    G. 

Act  of  Parliament  We  hereby  Recommend  to  Our  Judges 
of  our  Supreme  Courts  in  our  said  Province  of  New- Jersey, 
and  to  the  Persons  by  them  impowered  to  take  and  receive 
Recognizances  of  Special  Bail,  as  a  Direction  to  Govern 
themselves  by,  as  nearly  as  the  Circumstances  of  Our  said 
Province  of  New-Jersey  will  admit  the  same  to  be  done. 

And  Whereas  the  bringing  of  Jurors  and  Evidences 
from  the  several  Counties  within  Our  Province  of  New- 
Jersey,  will  be  at  the  great  charge  and  expense  of  such  of 
our  loving  Subjects  as  have  causes  depending,  or  that 
will  be  Depending  in  our  Supreme  Courts  of  our  said  Pro- 
vince of  New-Jersey,  We  do,  for  the  ease  and  benefit  of 
our  said  loving  Subjects,  further  Ordain,  That  our  Chief 
Justice  or  other  Justice  of  our  Supreme  Courts,  shall  annu- 
ally and  every  Year  (if  there  be  occasion)  go  into  every 
County  in  our  said  Province,  except  the  County  of  Cape- 
May,  and  there  to  hold  a  Court  for  the  Tryal  of  such 
causes  arising  in  the  several  and  respective  Counties,  as 
are  brought  to  Issue  in  our  said  Supreme  Courts  ;  which 
causes  our  Chief  Justice  or  other  Justices  of  our  Su- 
preme Courts,  is  hereby  Impowered  to  hear  and  try,  by 
Jurors  of  the  said  Counties,  and  on  any  Verdict  in  any  of 
the  said  Counties,  within  our  said  Province,  Judgment  to 
give,  at  Our  next  Supreme  Court  of  Judicature,  to  be  hold- 
en  at  Our  City  of  Perth- Amboy,  for  the  Eastern  Division, 
or  Town  of  Burlington,  for  the  Western  Division,  after 
such  Verdict  given  in  any  of  the  said  Counties,  within  Our 
said  Province  of  New-Jersey.  Which  Courts  for  Tryal  of 
Causes  shall  be  held  in  our  several  Counties,  excepting 
Cape-May,  for  and  during  a  Term  not  exceeding  Five 
Days,  and  at  the  Times  and  Places  following,  that  is  to  say. 

For  the  County  of  Bergen,  on  the  first  Tuesday  of 
April,  at  Hackinsack,  for  the  County  of  Bergen. 


APPENDIX    G. 


301 


For  the  County  of  Essex,  on  the  second  Tuesday  of 
April,  at  Newark. 

For  the  County  of  Somerset,  on  the  first  Tuesday  of 
October,  at  the  Court-house  of  the  same  County, 

For  the  County  o^  Monmouth,  on  the  fourth  Tuesday  of 
April,  at  Free-hold. 

For  the  County  of  Hunterdon,  on  the  fourth  Tuesday  in 
October,  at  Trent-Town. 

For  the  County  of  Gloucester,  on  the  second  Tuesday  in 
June,  at  Gloucester. 

For  the  Counties  of  Salem  and  Cape-May,  the  first 
Tuesday  in  June,  at  Salem. 

Hereby  Requiring  and  Commanding  Our  High-Sheriff', 
Justices  of  the  Peace,  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen  of  any 
Corporation  within  any  of  Our  said  Counties,  and  all  OflS- 
cers,  Magisterial  and  Ministerial  of  any  Courts  within  Our 
said  Counties,  to  be  Attending  on  our  Chief  Justice,  or  other 
Justices  going  the  Circuit,  at  his  Coming  into  and  Leaving 
their  several  Counties,  and  during  his  Abode  within  the 
same,  on  Penalty  to  be  proceeded  against  according  to 
Law,  for  their  or  any  of  their  Neglect  and  Contempt  of 
Our  Royal  Authority  and  Command  hereby  signified. 

And  it  is  further  Ordained,  That  the  Commissioners 
to  be  appointed  for  Taking  of  Special  Bails  in  the  respec- 
tive Counties  of  this  Province,  for  every  Bail-piece  taken 
by  them,  they  shall  take  the  Sum  of  Three  Shillings,  and 
no  more.  And  the  Commissioners  for  Taking  of  Affidavits, 
for  every  Sheet  in  an  Affidavit,  One  Shilling,  and  no 
more. 

In  Testimony  whereof  We  have  caused  these  Our  Letters 
to  be  made  Patent,  and  the  Seal  of  Our  Province  of 


302  APPENDIX    G. 

New-Jersey  to  he  thereunto  Affixed.  Witness  Our 
Trusty  Sf  Well-beloved  William  Burnet,  Esq.,  Capt. 
General  and  Governour  in  Chief  of  the  Provinces  of 
New-Jersey,  New- York,  and  Territories  thereon  de- 
pending in  America,  and  Vice-Admiral  of  the  same, 
6fC.,  in  Council  at  Perth- Amboy,  the  10th  Day  of  Feb- 
ruary, in  the  first  Year  of  Our  Reign,  1728. 

SMITH. 


INDEX 


Mams  (Samuel).  His  letter  to  Richard 
Henry  Lee,  stating  that  the  New  Jersey 
delegates  were  not  empowered  to  give  their 
voice  for  independence  ;  shown  to  be  er- 
roneous, 197,  note. 

Jjlexander  (James).  Father  of  Lord  Stirling  ; 
his  name  signed  to  the  "  Ehzabethtnwn  Bill 
in  Chancery,"  liO  ;  a  member  of  Council, 
and  a  large  proprietor  of  New  Jersey,  127. 

.^llen  (Jedidiah).  Indicted  for  uttering  se- 
ditious words  of  Lord  Cornbury,  53;  grand 
jury  return  the  bills  with  an  ignoramus ;  in- 
formations exhibited  against  him,  54;  ap- 
plies for  a  postponement  of  his  trial,  which 
is  allowed  upon  conditions,  with  which  he 
refuses  to  comply  ;  he  is  committed  for  con- 
tempt, 55. 

.tllinsiin  (Samuel).  An  attorney  at  law, 
charged  before  the  House  of  Assembly  with 
taking  illegal  fees;  is  tried  and  acquitted, 
167  ;  appears  at  the  bar  of  the  Assembly, 
on  behalf  of  the  lawyers  of  New  Jersey,  1G8. 

^inswer.  To  the  "  Elizabetlitown  Bill  in 
Chancery;"  its  prolixity,  120;  published, 
with  a  title  as  long  a.s  that  of  the  Bill  ; 
names  of  the  Counsel  by  whom  it  was  signed, 
121 

.appeals  (Court  of).  Erected  by  the  Queen 
in  Council ;  adopted  by  the  Constitution  of 
1776 ;  confirmed  and  continued  by  act  of 
the  Legislature,  45,  note. 

Jissembly  (General).  First  meeting  of,  in 
New  Jersey.  5 ;  act  of,  for  establishing 
Cojirts  of  Justice,  7 ;  present  remonstrance 
to  Lord  Cornbury,  02 ;  his  answer  to  it,  65 
at  srq ;  their  replication,  68;  review  the 
address  of  the  Lieutenant  (Jovenor  and 
Council  to  the  Queen,  and  expel  William 
Sandford  for  having  signed  it,  71  ;  address  to 
Governor  Burnet,  asking  for  the  appointment 
of  a  Chief  Justice  residing  in  New  .lersey, 
104  ;  investigate  charges  against  the  lawyers, 
]65  tt  net,.  ^ 

Assize  (Court  of).  The  Supreme  Court  of 
the  Province  ;  held  once  a  year  at  Wood- 
bridge,  8. 

Mtomeys.     First  act  for  regulation  of;   not 


permitted  to  practise  without  a  license  from 
the  Governor,  23  ;  required  to  serve  an  ap- 
prenticeship of  at  least  seven  years,  or  to 
pursue  the  study  of  the  law  four  years  after 
coming  of  full  age,  132. 
Aynslcy  (William).  Appointed  Chief  Justice; 
takes  his  seat  upon  the  bench  ;  dies  soon 
after  his  appointment,  151. 

B 

Bacon  (Lord).  His  opinion  of  the  qualities 
requisite  for  a  Judge   184,  note 

Bancroft.  (History  of  the  United  States) 
extracts  from,  31,  103,  note. 

Barclay  (Robert).  A  Scotchman,  and  one 
of  the  proprietors  of  East  Jersey,  12. 

Basse  (Jeremiah).  Indicted  for  perjury,  83  ; 
tiied  and  accjuitted,  84  ;  stirs  up  prosecutions 
against  the  principal  officers  of  the  province, 
97  ;  suspended  by  the  Supreme  Court  from 
practising  as  an  Attorney,  98  ;  is  returned  to 
the  Assembly  from  the  County  of  Cape  May, 
100  ;  his  Speech  in  the  House,  101  ;  acquires 
the  confidence  of  Governor  Hunter,  and  is 
appointed  Attorney  General ;  his  commis- 
sion renewed  by  Governor  Burnet ;  his 
death,  and  will,  102. 

Bntjard  (Col.  Jolin).  A  pupil  of  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Finley,  a  member  of  tlie  old  Con- 
gress, and  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives of  Pennsylvania,  I'Jl. 

Belcher  (Governor),  151. 

Bernard  (Governor),  151. 

Bilinp  (Christopher).  Eldest  son  of  Thomas 
Farmar ;  marries  the  daughter  of  Captain 
Christopher  Rillop;  adopts  her  father's 
name  ;  commands  a  corps  of  New-York 
loyalists  during  the  revolutionary  war;  is 
taken  prisoner,  confined  in  the  jail  at  Bur- 
lington, and  treated  with  great  severity,  128; 
his  estate  is  confiscated  after  the  peace  ;  he 
goes  to  the  Province  of  New  Brunswick, 
becomes  a  member  of  the  .Assembly,  and  of 
Council,  and  dies  at  St.  John's.  129. 

Binnei/- (Mr.)  Extract  from  his  Eulogium  on 
Chief  Justice  Tilgham,  112,  note. 

Bloomfield  (Joseph).  Governor  of  New  Jer- 
sey, 126,  179. 


304 


INDEX. 


Boudinot  (Elias).  President  of  Congress  un- 
der tlie  Confederation,  member  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  after  tlie  adoption  of  tlie 
Constitution,  and  tlie  first  Director  of  the 
Mint  of  the  United  States;  his  sister  the  wife 
of  Richard  Stockton,  199,  note. 

Boudinot  (Elisha).  Of  Newark  ;  Richard 
Stnckton.VV'illiam  Grifiith,  and  Alexander  C. 
McWhorter,  students  in  his  office,  189,  note. 

Brovgham  (Lord).  Extract  from  his  Speech 
in  the  House  of  Commons  on  Law  Reform, 
3 ;  notice  of  his  Speech  on  Local  Courts, 
9,  note. 

Burke.  E.xtracts  from  his  Speech  on  Concilia- 
tion with  America,  21,  22,  note. 

Bvrnet.  Succeeds  Hunter  as  Governor  of 
New  Jersey,  104 ;  takes  especial  delight  in 
the  Court  of  Chancery,  107  ;  a  son  of  the 
celebrated  Bishop  Burnet ;  named  after  the 
Prince  of  Orange ;  his  fortune  wrecked  in 
the  South  Sea  scheme  ;  made  Governor  of 
Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire  ;  of  con- 
vivial disposition  and  levity  of  manners  ;  his 
death  and  character,  108,  note. 

C 

Camphell  (Lord).  Extracts  from  his  lives  of 
the  Lord  Chancellors,  81,  note  ;  109,  note; 
117,  note. 

Carolana.  Description  of  the  Province  of, 
by  Daniel  Coxe ;  first  pubhshed  in  1722, 
and  republished  in  1741 ;  contains  a  "curious 
discovery"  of  an  easy  communication  be- 
tween the  river  Mississippi  and  the  South 
Sea,  184 ;  note  ;  plan  of  Union  for  the 
North  American  Colonies  proposed  in  the 
preface,  IS.')  ;  Dr.  Franklin's  "  Albany  Plan 
of  Union,"  little  more  than  a  transcript  of 
it,  137. 

Carolina.  Patent  for,  obtained  by  Sir  Robert 
Heath,  Attorney  General  to  Charles  the  first ; 
declared  to  be  void  ;  Dr.  Coxe  procures  an 
assignment  of  it,  133 ;  called  Carolana  in 
the  original  patent,  134. 

Carteret  (Governor).  Seeks  to  extend  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  municipal  Courts  of  Ber- 
gen and  Woodbridge,  6 ;  purchases  an  in- 
terest in  the  Elizabethtown  grant,  123. 

Carteret  (Lady  Elizabeth).  "  Fashionable  and 
kind-hearted;"  Elizabethtown  named  after 
ier,  13,  122. 

Carteret  (Sir  George).  One  of  the  original 
proprietors  of  New  Jersey,  5  ;  concessions  of 
Berkley  and  Carteret,  18. 

Chancery  (Court  of).  Recognized  as  a  sepa- 
rate and  distinct  tribunal,  in  the  first  act  for 
the  establishment  of  Courts,  11 ;  made  part 
of  the  Court  of  Common  Right,  but  after- 
wards separated  from  it,  14  ;  never  a  popu- 
lar favorite  in  this  country,  108  ;  in  England 
always  a  fair  subject  for  the  pen  of  the 
satirist,  109  ;  note;  becomes  so  unpopular  in 
New-York,  that  no  business  is  transacted  in 
it  for  many  years,  110;  first  established  in 
Pennsylvania  by  Governor  Keith,  ib. ;  diffi- 
culty with  John  Kinsey  a  duaker  lawyer, 
111  ;  considered  a  "nuisance"  and  entirely 
laid  aside,  112  ;  has  encountered  less  hostili- 
ty in  New  Jersey  than  in  her  sister  states, 
lb. ;  ordinance  of  Lord  Cornbury  for  the 
erection  of,  113;  first  ordinance  for  the 
regulation  of  fees  in,  114;  a  committee  of 
Council  appointed  to  revise  and  moderate 


fees,  and  perform  their  task  with  an  unspar- 
ing hand,  115  ;  committee  directed  to  inquire 
into  the  abuses  which  had  crept  into  the 
pracliceof  the  Court,  116;  the  abuses  pointed 
out,  and  the  remedies  proposed  by  them,  117  ; 
message  of  Governor  Franklin  in  relation  to 
Court  of  Chancery,  123  ;  sends  the  Assembly 
list  of  officers  in  the  Court,  for  which  salaries 
ought  to  be  provided,  124 ;  ordinance  of 
Governor  Franklin,  125 ;  the  Constitution 
of  1776  adopts  the  Court,  and  the  Legisla- 
ture confirm  its  powers,  ib. ;  office  of  Gover- 
nor and  Chancellor  united  until  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution  of  1844 ;  effect  of  this 
arrangement,  12G. 

Clarke  (Abraham).  His  object  in  introduc- 
ing the  bill  known  as  "  Clarke's  Practice 
Act,"  115. 

Common  Pleas  (Courts  of).  First  established 
by  the  Ordinance  of  Lord  Cornbury  ;  when 
and  where  held  ;  their  jurisdiction.  43  ;  ac- 
count of  the  origin  of  this  Court  by  Mr.  Grif- 
fith erroneous,  47. 

Common  Rig-lit  (Court  of).  Came  in  place 
of  the  Court  of  Assize  ;  name  first  occurs  in 
the  instructions  to  Gawen  Lawrie,  Deputy 
Governor  of  East  Jersey,  12  ;  to  consist  of 
"  twelve  members,  or  six  at  the  least ;"  held 
first  at  Elizabethtown,  but  afterwards  at 
Perth  Amboy,  13. 

Common  Law,  brought  from  England  by  onr 
fathers  ;  their  birthright  and  inheritance,  15  ; 
reached  its  full  vigor  about  the  period  of  the 
first  settlement  of  New  Jersey,  16,  note. 

Concessions,  of  Berkley  and  Carteret,  the  first 
Proprietors  of  New  Jersey  ;  proclaimed  re- 
ligious liberty  in  its  fullest  extent,  and  free- 
dom from  taxation  without  the  consent  of 
the  people,  18 ;  published  and  circulated  in 
England  and  throughout  the  Colonies,  19 ; 
of  the  Proprietors  of  West  Jersey,  still  more 
liberal  ;  their  provision  for  liberty  of  con- 
science, 27  ;  for  freedom  from  taxation  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  General  Assembly, 
28 ;  their  language  in  reference  to  trial  by 
jury,  ib. ;  members  of  Assembly  to  be  chosen 
by  ballot,  29 ;  to  receive  instructions  from 
those  who  sent  them,  and  covenant  for 
obedience  under  hand  and  seal,  r<0 ;  these 
Concessions  to  be  read  at  the  opening  and 
dissolving  of  every  Assembly,  and  writ  on 
fair  tables  in  every  hall  of  justice  in  the 
Province,  31. 

Cooper  (Joseph)  A  member  of  Assembly 
from  Gloucester  County,  during  the  admini- 
stration of  Governor  Morris.  143. 

Cornbury  (Lord).  Cousin  of  Gueen  Anne,  and 
grandson  of  the  illustrious  Clarendon  ;  first 
Royal  Governor  of  New  Jersey,  40  ;  forbid- 
den by  his  Instructions,  but  authorized  by 
his  Commission  to  establish  Courts,  41  ;  his 
Ordinance  for  the  establishment  of  Courts, 
42  ;  its  provisions,  43  et  seq. ;  this  Ordinance 
the  foundation  of  onr  Common  Law  Courts, 
45  ;  Mr.  Griffith  not  aware  of  the  existence 
of  it,  46  ;  a  copy  of  it  found  in  the  State 
Library,  50  ;  by  whom  probably  framed,  ib.  ; 
his  disputes  with  the  Assembly,  62 ;  their 
remonstrance  presented  to  him  by  Samuel 
Jenings,  and  his  reception  of  it,  64 ;  his  an- 
swer, 65  et  seq. ;  reply  of  the  Assembly,  68  ; 
prevails  upon  the  Lieutenant  Governor  and 
Council  to  unite  in  an  address  to  the  Queen 
justifying   his    conduct,  69 ;    his    removal 


INDEX. 


305 


and  character,  "0,  note  ;  thrown  into  jail  by 
his  creditors,  and  remains  there,  until  ele- 
vated to  tlie  peerage  by  the  death  of  his 
father,  83. 
County  Courts  first  established  in  East  Jersey, 
7 ;  when,  and  by  whom  lield  ;  their  juris- 
diction ;  appeals  from  their  judgments,  8  ; 
to  be  held  four  times  a  year  in  each  County, 
11  ;  the  Judges  to  be  the  Justices  of  the 
Peace  in  the  respective  Counties,  12 ;  in 
West  Jersey,  when  established  ;  when  and 
by  whom  held,  24  ;  their  jurisdiction  un- 
limited, in  civil  and  criminal  cases,  ib. ;  the 
great  Courts  of  the  Province,  25. 

Courts,  Establishment  of,  coeval  with  the 
first  settlement  of  the  State,  4  ;  first  act  of 
Assembly  for  the  erection  of,  7 ;  modified 
afrer  the  transfer  of  East  Jersey  to  the 
twenty-four  Proprietors,  11 ;  of  West  Jersey 
under  its  Proprietary  Government,  24 ;  es- 
tablished by  Ordinance  of  Governor  and 
Council,  after  the  Surrender,  42  ;  first  ordin- 
ance for  the  erection  of  Courts,  and  its  pro- 
visions, 43  ;  these  Courts  continued  without 
any  essential  change  to  the  Revolution  ; 
have  retained  all  their  leading  features  to 
this  day,  45. 

Core  (Dr'  Daniel).  A  great  Proprietor  of  West 
Jersey,  and  Governor  of  that  Province  for 
some  years :  father  of  Daniel  Co.\e,  one  of 
the  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  132  ;  pro- 
cures an  assignment  of  the  original  Patent 
for  Carolina,  and  addresses  a  memorial  to 
King  William  claiming  the  Province  em- 
braced in  it,  133;  the  memorial  is  referred 
to  the  Attorney  General,  who  reports  in 
favor  of  the  validity  of  his  title,  134. 

Cezc  (Daniel).  Son  of  Dr.  Daniel  Coxe  ;  signs 
the  address  of  the  Lieutenant  Governor  and 
Council  to  the  tiueen,  70,  note;  is  chosen 
speaker  of  the  Assembly,  92 ;  absents  him- 
self from  the  House,  with  most  of  his  politi- 
cal friends.  98  ;  the  Assembly  choose  a  new 
speaker,  and  e.xpel  the  absent  members,  99; 
Governor  Hunter,  in  a  message  to  the  As- 
sembly, condemns  the  conduct  of  the  late 
speaker,  and  the  House  concur  with  him, 
100  ;  is  appointed  an  associate  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  132 ;  revives  his  father's 
claim  to  Carolina,  and  makes  various  efibrts 
to  colonize  it ;  publishes  a  description  of  the 
country,  which  he  calls  Caro/ana,  134  ;  his 
preface  to  the  work  contains  a  plan  of 
nnion  for  the  North  American  Colonies, 
135  ;  e.\tract  from  it,  13t),  note  ;  the  same 
with  that,  afterwards  proposed  by  Dr.  Frank- 
lin at  Albany,  and  which  has  been  so  cele- 
brated, 137  ;  remains  upon  the  bench  until 
his  death,  and  discharges  his  duties  with 
ability  and  integrity,  ih. 

Core  (Daniel).  A  member  of  Council  during 
Governor  Franklin's  administration  ;  chief 
agent  in  organizing  the  Board  of  Refugees 
or  Royalists,  in  New-York  ;  made  President 
of  the  Board  ;  reason  a.ssigned  for  putting 
him  in  the  chair,  ]H5,  note. 

Cuthhert  (Alexander).  Of  Canada,  married  a 
daughter  of  Richard  Stockton,  199,  note. 

D 

Dkkhisnn  (John).  At  a  meeting  of  the  Phila- 
delphia bar,  opposes  a  resoluliim  to  transact 
business  without  the  use  of  stamps,  1(34. 


Dudley  (Joseph).  Chief  Justice  of  New-York, 
and  afterwards  Governor  of  Massachusets, 
74. 


East  Jersey.  Courts  in,  7,  8 ;  divided  into 
Counties,  and  Townships,  11,  note;  laws 
of  under  the  Proprietory  Government,  205 
et  seq. ;  severity  of  the  criminal  code,  207  ; 
acts  for  the  promotion  of  education,  208 ; 
thanksgiving  days  appointed  by  act  of  As- 
sembly, 209. 

Ellesmcre,  lyord  Chancellor  in  the  reign  of 
Queen  Elizabeth ;  the  vigor  with  which  he 
corrected  prolixity  in  chancery  pleadings, 
117,  note. 

Elitabethtown,  named  after  Lady  Carteret; 
long  the  capital  of  the  Province  of  East 
Jersey,  13. 

Elizahethtown  Bill  in  Chancery.  Embodies 
much  of  the  early  history  of  the  State,  24  ; 
the  most  important  bill  ever  filed  in  the  Pro- 
vincial Court  of  Chancery,  119;  contains 
fifteen  hundred  sheets ;  printed  with  the 
accompanying  documents,  making  a  folio 
volume  of  one  hundred  and  si.\ty  pages  ;  its 
title,  120  ;  drawn  up  with  great  ability,  I2-.' ; 
cause  never  brought  to  a  final  hearing,  123. 

Elmer  (Ebenezer).  Father  of  the  Hon.  Lucius 
Q..  C.  Elmer  of  Bridgeton  ;  assisted  in  the 
destruction  of  the  tea  at  Greenwich,  179. 

Essex.  Reply  of  the  Grand  Jury  of,  to  the 
charge  of  Chief  Justice  Smyth,  175  et  seq.  ; 
riots  against  the  lawyers,  171 ;  the  rioters 
promptly  punished,  172. 

Ewinjr  (James).  Father  of  the  distinguished 
Chief  Justice  of  New  Jersey  ;  assisted  in  the 
destruction  of  the  tea  at  Greenwich,  179. 


Farmar  (Thomas).  An  associate  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  92;  removes  from  Staten 
Island  to  Amboy,  126;  represents  for  many 
years  in  the  Assembly  the  County  of  Middle- 
se.\,  127;  is  made  Chief  Justice;  was  in- 
sane for  some  years  ;  his  eldest  son  assumed 
the  name  of  Christopher  Billo]),  and  became 
a  noted  character  during  the  Revolutionary 
war,  128. 

Field  (Robert).  Of  Whitehill,  in  the  County 
of  Burlington  ;  married  a  daughter  of  Rich- 
ard Stockton.  199,  note. 

Field  (Abby).  The  only  surviving  daughter  of 
Richard  Stockton  ;  is  living  at  Princeton, 
199,  note. 

Finley  (Rev. Samuel).  A  ripe  scholar,  andskill- 
ful  teacher,  190  ;  establishes  a  school  at  Not- 
tingham, in  Maryland,  which  becomes  a 
very  celebrated  one,  ib. ;  some  of  the  most 
distinguished  men  in  the  country  educated 
here,  191  ;  is  President  of  the  College  of 
New  Jersey  ;  upon  his  death  Dr.  Wither- 
spoon  is  chosen  to  succeed  him,  193. 

Ford  (Gabriel,  H.).  A  student  in  the  oflSce 
of  Abraham  Ogden  ;  for  many  years  a  Judge 
of  the  Supreme  Court;  still  living  in  the  full 
enjoyment  of  his  faculties,  1H9,  note. 

FranUliii  (Dr.).  His  "Albany  Plea  of 
Union,"  little  more  than  a  transcript  of 
the  design  of  Daniel  Coxe,  sketched  many 
years  before,  J37;  his  interview  with 
Robert  Hunter  Mortis  in  New  York,  147. 


306 


INDEX. 


Franklin  (Governor).  His  Message  to  the 
Assembly  in  reference  to  the  Court  of 
Chancery,  123  ;  his  Ordinance  establishing 
the  Court,  ]-25 ;  his  Message  to  the  Assem- 
bly, upon  the  subject  of  the  riots  against  the 
lawyers,  172. 

G 

Galloway  (Joseph).  A  celebrated  loyalist  of 
Pennsylvania;  a  correspondent  of  David 
Ogden,  185. 

Gates  (Horatio).  Letter  tn,  from  William 
Smith,  the  Provincial  Historian  of  New 
York,  155. 

General  Sessions  of  the  Peace  (Court  of). 
Established  by  Ordinance  of  Lord  Corn- 
bury  ;  to  be  held  four  times  a  year  in  every 
County,  43. 

Gordon  (Thomas).  A  native  of  Pitlochie  in 
Scotland,  86 ;  emigrates  to  New  Jersey ; 
settles  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  "Scotch 
Plains;"  becomes  a  large  Proprietor,  and 
fills  various  offices  of  honor  and  trust  in  the 
Province  ;  represents  Perth  Amboy  in  the 
Assembly,  and  is  chosen  Speaker  of  the 
House,  87 ;  is  appointed  Chief  Justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court  upon  the  resignation  of 
Mompessou  ;  is  made  Receiver  General  and 
Treasurer  of  the  Province,  and  relinquishes 
his  seat  upon  the  bench  ;  is  appointed  Com- 
missioner to  execute  the  office  of  Attorney 
General  ;  his  death,  88. 

Gra/iame.  A  Scotchman,  and  the  author 
of  the  best  Colonial  History  of  the  United 
States  that  has  yet  appeared,  86  ;  extracts 
from  his  History,  31,  note  ;  33  ;  71,  note  ;  86 

Grand  Jury,  of  Essex.  Their  spirited  reply 
to  the  charge  of  Chief  Justice  Smyith,  175  ; 
of  Cumberland,  refuse  to  find  Indictments 
against  those  who  were  concerned  in  the 
destruction  of   the  tea  at  Greenwich,  181. 

Griffith  (Alexander).  First  Attorney  Gen- 
eral for  the  Province  of  New  Jersey,  52 ; 
suspended  for  "  sundry  misdemeanors,  ne- 
glects, and  contempts  of  duty,"  88. 

Griffith  (William).  The  learned  Compiler  of 
the  Law  Register,  46 ;  a  student  in  the 
office  of  Elisha  Boudinot  of  Newark, 
189,  note. 

H 

Hall  (William),  80,  note. 

Haltom.  Extracts  from  his  Constitutional 
History  of  England,  9.  note,  17,  note. 

Haiard  (Ebenezer).  Postmaster  General  of 
the  United  States,  and  author  of  Historical 
Collections ;  a  pupil  of  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Finley,  191. 

Henry  (John).  A  member  of  the  old  Con- 
gress, a  Senator  of  the  United  States,  and 
Governor  of  Maryland  ;  a  pupil  of  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Finley,  191. 

Hoarkills  (Customs  at).  Exacted  by  the 
agent  of  the  Puke  of  York,  on  all  vessels 
ascending  the  Delaware  to  New  Jersey,  32  ; 
argument  against.  .33,  et  seq. 

Hoffman  (Josiah  Ogden).  A  student  in  the 
office  of  Abraham  Ogden  ;  Attorney  Gen- 
eral of  New  York,  and  Judge  of  the  Supe- 
rior Court  at  the  time  of  his  death,  189, 
note. 

Hollingshead  (John).  Indictment  against  for 
utteing  seditious  words  of  Lord  Cornbury, 


53 ;  grand  jury  return  it  with  an  igno- 
ramui  ;  information  exhibited  against  him, 
54 ;  applies  for  a  postponement  of  his 
trial ;  the  motion  is  allowed,  but  upon  con- 
ditions with  which  he  refuses  to  comply  ;  he 
is  committed  for  contempt,  55  ;  is  tried  and 
acquitted,  56. 

Hooper  (Robert  Lettice).  Appointed  Chief 
Justice  upon  the  death  of  William  Trent, 
126  ;  is  succeeded  by  Thomas  Farmar,  ib.  ; 
is  again  appointed  Chief  Justice,*  128 ; 
continues  to  act  until  his  death,  129. 

Hopkinson  (Frauds).  A  delegate  from  New 
Jersey,  and  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence ;  appears  in  Congress,  and 
presents  the  instructions  under  which  he  and 
his  colleagues  were  appointed,  197,  note. 

Howell  ( Richard).  Governor  of  New  Jersey  ; 
assisted  in  the  destruction  of  the  tea  at 
Greenwich,  179. 

Haddy  (Hugh),  80,  note. 

Hume.  Extract  from  his  Essay  on  the  origin 
of  government,  3,  note. 

Hunter  (Rev.  Andrew).  A  chaplain  in  the 
American  Army  during  the  whole  of  the 
Revolutionary  war ;  assisted  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  tea  at  Greenwich  ;  his  second 
wife  a  daughte    of  Richard  Stockton,  179. 

Hunter  {Rev.  Andrew).  Pastorof  the  Presby- 
terian church  in  Greenwich,  in  the  County 
of  Cumberland  ;  an  ardent  Whig,  179, 
note. 

Hunter  (Governor).  Succeeds  Lord  Love- 
lace ;  his  first  Address  to  the  House  of  As- 
sembly, 79 ;  a  native  of  Scotland  ;  marries 
a  peeress  ;  a  friend  of  Addison  and  Swift ; 
appointed  Lieutenant  Governor  of  Virginia; 
is  taken  prisoner  by  the  French  ;  is  appointed 
Governor  of  Jamaica  ;  a  man  of  some  liter- 
ary pretensions,  89,  note  ;  his  address  on 
behalf  of  the  Quakers,  94  :  claims  the  right 
to  act  as  Chancellor  without  the  aid  of  his 
Council,  114. 

I 

Indians.  Their  right  to  the  soil  always  respec- 
ted in  New  Jersey  ;  the  Six  Nations  at 
Fort  Stanwix  confer  upon  New  Jersey  the 
title  of  the  Great  Doer  of  .Justice,  5,  note. 

Ingoldsby  (Lieutenant  Governor).  Unites 
with  the  Council  in  an  address  to  the  dueen, 
justifying  the  conduct  of  Lord  Cornbury, 
69 ;  acts  as  Governor  upon  the  death  of 
Lord  Lovelace  ;  a  dull,  heavy  man,  78  ; 
remonstrances  are  made  to  the  Queen  for 
his  removal,  to  which  she  at  last  yields,  79. 

Institutio  T.egaUs,  of  Newark,  a  sort  of  Moot 
Court,  kept  up  for  many  years,  1S9,  note. 


.Jamison  (David).  Appointed  Chief  Justice 
in  place  of  Mompesson,  89  ;  a  popular  law- 
yer of  New  York  ;  distinguished  himselt  in 
defence  of  McKemie  the  Presbyterian 
clergyman  ;  is  Chief  Justice  during  the  whole 
of  Governor  Hunter's  administration,  91  ; 
is  indicted  in  the  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions 
of  Burlington  ;  delivers  a  speech  in  the 
Supreme  Court,  94  ;  indictment  removed 
to  the  Supreme  Court,  and  quashed,  97  ; 
his  charge  to  the  Grand  Jury  at  Burlington, 
103 ;  continued  in  office  by  Governor  Bur- 
net ;  the  Assembly  complain  of  his  residing 


INDEX. 


307 


in  New  York,  and  address  Governor  Bnrnet 
upon  the  subject,  104  ;  he  H  superseded, 
and  William  Trent  appointed  in  his  place, 
105. 

Jennies  (Samnel).  Speaker  ol'  the  Assembly, 
•).3 ;  presents  their  .iddress  to  Lord  Corn- 
bury,  6-i ;  was  Governor  of  West  Jersey 
under  the  Proprietary  government ;  his  char- 
acter, 63.  note. 

Johnson  (Robert  G.).  One  of  the  Vice  Presi- 
dents of  the  New  Jersey  Historical  Society; 
has  preserved  the  nanies  of  those  who  were 
concerned  in  the  destruction  of  the  tea  at 
Greenwich,  178. 

Jones  (Nathaniel).  Tsappointed  Chief  Justice 
of  New  Jersey  on  the  death  of  Aynsley,  l.'il  ; 
arrives  at  Amboy  where  he  receives  his 
commission  ;  makes  a  visit  to  Elizabeth- 
town  ;  his  reception  there  ;  at  the  ne.xt  Term 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  prays  that  the  oath 
of  office  may  be  administered  to  him,  1.52; 
Robert  Hunter  Morris  claims  to  be  slill 
Chief  Justice  ;  the  matter  is  referred  to  the 
Court,  1.53  ;  Judge  Nevili  decides  against 
Jones  ;  he  puts  his  commission  in  his  pocket, 
and  returns  to  England,  1.54. 

Judges,  during  the  Colonial  government  were 
clad  in  official  robes,  and  affected  much 
state  ;  C05tumes  worn  by  them  before  the 
Revolution,  20,  note. 

Justice's  Courts,  and  convenient  tribunals  ; 
origin  of,  8. 

Justices  of  the  Peace,  their  jurisdiction  in  civil 
cases,  by  the  ordinance  of  Lord  Cornbury, 
143. 

K 

Kearney  (Philip).     Letter  to,  from  David  Og- 

den,  m. 

Keith  (Sir  William).  Governor  of  Pennsyl- 
vania ;  establishes  a  Court  of  Chancery,  110; 
orders  the  hat  of  John  Kinsey,  a  Cinaker 
lawver,  to  betaken  off  in  Court  ;  excitement 
caused  by  it;  a  rule  of  Court  adopted,  allow- 
ing Cluakers  to  wear  their  hats.  111. 

Killin^icorth  (Thomas).  Informations  against 
for  speaking  contemptuously  of  the  Church 
of  England  ;  tried  and  ac(|uitted,  5fi. 

Kinsey  (Jnhn).  Father  of  John  Kinsey,  Chief 
Justice  of  Pennsylvania;  chosen  speaker  of 
the  Assembly  upon  the  e-xpulsion  of  Daniel 
Coxe,  9!). 

Kinsey  (John).  Chief  Justice  of  Pennsvlvania, 
and  father  of  James  Kinsev,  Chief  Justice 
of  New  Jersey,  99,  note  ;  a  Quaker  lawyer  ; 
wears  his  hat  in  the  Court  of  Chancery  ;  it 
is  or<lerpd  to  be  taken  off;  great  offence 
;iven  to  the  duakers  by  it.  111. 

Kinsey  CJames).  Chief  Justice  of  New  Jersey, 
99.  note  ;  appears  at  the  bar  of  the  Assembly, 
to  plead  the  cause  of  the  lawyers  of  New 
Jersey,  108. 

Kitchell  (Aaron).  Member  of  Assembly  from 
the  (.'ounty  of  Morris  ;  introduces  the  fable 
of  the  I'ox  and  geese,  in  answer  to  a  s])eech 
of  Abraham  O^'deu,  188,  note. 


L 

Lnierencr  (John).  A  distinguished  lawyer  of 
Burlington,  father  of  the  gallant  Capt.  James 
Lawrence  of  the  navy.  I'>7,  note. 

I.aics,  early,  few  and  simple,  15. 


J,nws,  of  East  Jersey  nnder  the  Proprietary 
Government,  205,  et  seq. 

Imws,  of  West  Jersey  under  the  Proprietary 
Government,  205,  et  seq. 

Lawyers,  New  Jersey  blessed  by  the  absence 
of,  22  ;  soon  found  their  way  into  the  colony, 
23  ;  of  New  Jersey,  the  first  to  adopt  mea- 
sures nf  Ofiposilion  to  the  Stamp  Act,  159; 
resolutions  of  a  meeting  of  the  bar  held  at 
Amboy,  and  the  effect  of  them.  ItiO;  ques- 
tions [iroposed  to  the  bar  by  Chief  Justice 
Smyth,  and  their  answers  to  them,  161  ; 
another  meeting  of  the  bar  held  at  New 
Brunswick.  I(i2 ;  resolutions  adopted,  bold 
and  spirited.  103  ;  complaints  against  the 
lawyers  of  New  Jersey,  164  ;  causes  of  the 
excitement  which  existed,  165  ;  the  Assem- 
bly investigate  the  charges,  166  ;  the  lawyers 
address  a  memorial  to  the  House,  praying 
leave  to  be  heard  at  their  bar,  167  ;  leave 
granted,  and  the  hearing  takes  place,  168: 
the  lawyers  make  charges  against  Samuel 
Tucker ;  they  are  investigated  by  the  House, 
nnd  Mr.  Tucker  found  guilty,  170;  riots  in 
Monmouth  and  Essex.  171  ;  rioters  punished 
in  Essex,  but  screened  in  Monmouth  ;  mes- 
sage of  Governor  Franklin  to  the  Assembly 
U|)On  the  subject,  172;  in  the  Revolhtion. 
a  m.ijority  of  the  lawyers  were  Whigs  ;  but 
the  "giants  of  the  law  "  are  said  to  have 
been  nearly  all  loyalists,  181  ;  thorough-bred 
lawyers,  a  race  of  men  that  became  numer- 
ous in  New  Jersey.  182. 

I^eeds  (DanielK  Signed  the  address  of  the 
Lieutenant  Governor  and  Council  to  the 
Queen,  justifying  the  conduct  of  Lord  Corn- 
bury,  "0,  note. 

Le^ravrrr  (Bernardus).  An  attorney  at  law, 
charged  before  the  Assembly  with  having 
taken  illegal  fees  ;  is  tried  and  convicted, 
and  reprimanded  by  the  speaker  at  the  bar 
of, the  Mouse,  166;  procures  certificates  of 
the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  by  which 
he  is  wholly  exonerated,  167. 

Liiuvgston  (William).  Governorof  New  Jer- 
sey ;  puts  his  name  to  (he  answer  to  the  Eliza- 
bethtown  Bill  in  Chancery,  121  ;  Sedgwick's 
life  of,  referred  to,  197,  note. 

Jjocran  (James).  I,etter  to.  from  \Villiara 
Penn,  introducing  Roger  .Mompesson,  58  ; 
extract?  from  his  letters  to  Penn,  59. 

I^ovelaee  (Lord).  Governor  of  New  Jersey; 
succeeded  Lord  Cornbury;  congratulatory 
address  to  him  by  the  Council,  77  ;  his  sudden 
and  premature  death,  78. 

M 

Mnirarine  (The  New  American),  printed  by 
James  Parker,  published  at  Woodbridge,  and 
edited  by  Samuel  Nevili  ;  first  periodical  in 
New  Jersey,  and  second  magazine  of  the 
kind  on  the  Continent,  1.57. 

Jihirtin  (Alexander).  Governor  of  No'lh  Caro- 
lina, and  a  delegate  to  the  Convention  which 
framed  lheCon«titutiim  of  the  Uniteil  States; 
a  pupil  iif  the  Rev.  Samuel  Finlcy,  1.57. 

Jllnssaclivsetts,  generally  in  advance  nf  the 
other  Colonies  ;  but  her  lawyers  ilecm  it  im- 
possible to  conduct  judicial  business  in  open 
disregard  of  an  act  of  parliament,  163. 

jMcKrmie  (Francis).  A  Presbyterian  clergy- 
man, tried  in  New  York  for  preaching  with- 
out a  license  ;  he  is  acquitted,  but  the  Court 


308 


INDEX. 


refuse  to  discharge  him,  until  he  has  paid  the 
fees  of  prosecution,  72. 

McTVhorter  (Rev.  Alexander),  of  Newark,  a 
distinguished  clergyman  ;  a  pupil  of  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Finley,  191. 

McWhortcr  (.■Me.xander  C  ).  An  eminent  law- 
yer ;  a  student  in  the  otiice  of  Elisha  Boudi- 
not  of  Newark,  189. 

Minutes  of  the  Supreme  Court,  contain  full 
reports  of  some  of  the  early  trials  ;  a  mine  of 
curious  and  valuable  information,  51,  note. 

Mompcsson  (Rev.  William).  Rector  of  Eyam 
in  Derbyshire  during  the  time  of  the  plague 
in  London  ;  performed  the  functions  of  phy- 
sician and  priest ;  extracts  from  a  letter 
written  by  him  to  Sir  George  Savilla,  57, 
note. 

Mompesson  (Roger).  The  first  Chief  Justice  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  New  Jersey,  51 ;  sup- 
posed to  have  descended  from  the  Rev. 
William  Mompesson,  Rector  of  Eyam,  57  ; 
arrives  in  Philadelphia,  bearing  a  letter  from 
William  Pean  to  Samuel  Logan,  58;  appoint- 
ed Chief  Justice  of  Pennsylvania,  and  prob- 
ably never  took  his  seat  upon  the  bench,  60, 
note;  is  made  Chief  Justice  of  New  Jersey 
and  New-York,  60;  a  member  of  Lord  Corn- 
bury's  Council,  61  ;  puts  his  name  to  the 
address  of  the  Lieut.  Governor  and  Council 
to  the  dueen,  70  ;  Assembly  comment  with 
much  severity  upon  his  conduct,  71  ;  upon 
the  removal  of  Cornbury  surrenders  his  com- 
mission, 71  ;  his  conduct  as  Chief  Justice  of 
New- York,  7'J  ;  presides  at  the  trial  of  Fran- 
cis McKemie,  the  Presbyterian  clergyman, 
who  was  indicted  for  preaching  without 
license,  ib. ;  manies  a  daughter  of  William 
Pinhorne,  75  ;  is  restored  to  office  upon  the 
retirement  of  Thomas  Gordon,  89  ;  upon  the 
arrival  of  Governor  Hunter,  again  surrenders 
his  commission,  ib. 

Monmouth,  liots  iu,  against  the  lawyers,  171  ; 
rioters  screened  from  punishment,  172  ;  lories 
in  Monmouth,  173. 

Montgomery  (Governor).  His  aversion  to  the 
Court  of  Chancery,  115. 

Monthly  CoHrt  of  small  causes  (first  establish- 
ment of),  7;  the  original  of  the  Justice's 
Court,  8  ;  either  party  at  liberty  to  demand 
a  jury,  II. 

Morris  (Governor).  Grandson  of  Governor 
Lewis  Morris,  14:t. 

Morris  (Lewis).  Governor  of  New  Jersey,  ex- 
pelled from  the  Council  by  Lord  Cornbury, 
61  ;  draws  up  the  remonstrance  of  the  As- 
sembly, 6'2  ;  appointed  Chief  Justice  of  New- 
York,  91  ;  his  early  years,  138;  his  character, 
140 ;  appointed  Governor  of  New  ienex, 
141  ;  difficulties  with  the  Assembly,  142  ;  his 
death,  143. 

Morris  (Levvi^).  One  of  the  signei-s  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independeuce,  a  grandson  of 
GMVernor  Morris,  ]43. 

Morris  (Robert  Hunter).  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  137  ;  son  of  Gove  nor  Lewis 
Morris,  133;  held  the  office  of  Chief  Justice 
twenty-six  years  ;  his  education,  appearance, 
manners.  144 ;  his  character  as  a  Judge, 
145 ;  visits  England,  ib.  ;  it  is  proposed  to 
make  him  Lieutenant  Governor  of  New- 
York  ;  for  some  reason  the  appointment  not 
made,  146;  is  appointed  Governor  of  Penn- 
sylvania, 147  ;  interview  with  Dr.  Frankhn, 
ib.  ;    his  difficulties  wijh   the  Assembly   of 


Pennsylvania,  148 ;  tenders  his  resignation 
as  Chief  Justice,  in  a  letter  to  the  Lords  of 
Trade,  149 ;  names  Richard  Saltar  as  his 
successor  ;  his  resignation  not  accepted  ;  re- 
linquishes his  situation  as  Governor  of  Penn- 
sylvania ,  makes  another  visit  to  England, 
150  ;  during  his  absence,  William  Aynsley 
appointed  Chief  Justice,  151  ;  controversy 
with  Nathaniel  Jones  as  to  the  Chief  Justice- 
ship, 153  ;  decision  in  favor  of  Mr.  Morris, 
154  ;  his  sudden  and  melancholy  death,  155. 
Murray  (Joseph).  A  distinguished  lawyer  of 
New-York  ;  signs  the  Elizabelhtown  Bill  in 
Chancery,  120. 

N 

"  JVegro  plot"  in  New  York,  cruelties  attend- 
ing it  ;  probably  the  whole  affair  a  delusion, 
131. 

JsTevill  (Samuel).  Second  Judge  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  ;  had  been  Editor  of  the  Lon- 
don Morning  Post,  before  coming  to  Amer- 
ica, 155  ;  he  was  connected  by  marriage 
with  Peter  Sonmans,  and  inherited  his  pro- 
prietary interests  in  East  Jersey  ;  comes  to 
New  Jersey,  and  takes  up  his  residence  at 
Amboy  ;  becomes  a  member  of  the  Assem- 
bly, and  is  for  many  years  Speaker  of  the 
House,  156 ;  is  appointed  a  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  aud  for  sixteen  years  dis- 
charges its  duties  with  fidelity  ;  publishes 
the  laws  of  the  Province  in  two  volumes  ; 
edits  "The  New  American  Magazine," 
157  ;  his  death,  15S. 

JVcw  Jersey.  Her  history  divided  into  three 
periods,  4  ;  her  treatment  of  the  Indian,  5, 
note  ;  an  insurrection  among  the  slaves,  the 
only  instance  of  the  kind  in  her  annals, 
130;  the  condition  of  slaves  in,  131; 
allowed  to  have  a  separate  Governor  fom 
New  York,  139  ;  her  resistance  to  the  Stamp 
Act,  159. 

JVorburic  (George).  His  quaint  tract  on  "  the 
abuses  and  remedies  of  Chancery  ;"  extract 
from  it,  118. 

JVorth  Carolina.  "Regulators"  in  rise 
in  arms  to  exterminate  the  lawyers  ;  in  the 
Revolution  most  of  them  join  the  royal 
party,  173. 

JSTottiiiffham,  Lord  Chancellor  in  the  reign 
of  Charles  H  ;  his  remark  about  the  Statute 
of  Frauds.  17,  ncjte  ;  has  been  called  the 
Father  of  Equity,  109,  note. 

O 

Ocrden  (Abraham).  Son  of  David  Osden  ;  a 
distinguished  lawyer  after  the  Revolution  ; 
District  Attorney  of  the  United  States  ;  a 
member  of  the  Legislature,  and  advocates 
the  calling  of  a  Convention  to  revise  the 
Constitution,  188. 

Ogdcn  (David).  Son  of  Josiah  Ogden ; 
brother  of  Dr.  Jacob  Ogden  ;  born  in  New- 
ark, 182  ;  a  graduate  of  Yale  College  ;  reads 
law  in  New  York ;  practises  in  New  Jer- 
sey ;  rises  rapidly  in  his  profession  ;  is  ap- 
pointed a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  183  ; 
upon  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution, 
seeks  protection  from  the  British  in  New 
York.  184  ;  an  active  loyalist  ;  a  member  of 
the  Board  of  Refugees  ;  a  correspondent  of 
Joseph  Galloway  ;  draws  up  a  plan  for  the 
government  of  the  Colonies  after  their  sub- 


INDEX. 


309 


mission  to  Great  Britain,  185;  after  the 
peace  goes  to  England  ;  his  estate  confisca- 
ted :  receives  compensation  from  the  Hritish 
government ;  returns  to  the  United  States, 
and  takes  up  his  residence  on  Long  Island, 
187  ;  his  death,  and  family,  188. 

Ogden  (David  B.).  A  distinguished  lawjer 
of  New  York  ;  son  of  Samuel  and  grandson 
of  David  Ogden  ;  pursued  his  profession  for 
some  years  in  New  Jersey,  189. 

Ogden  (Isaac).  Son  of  David  Ogden  ;  Clerk 
of  the  Supreme  Court ;  joined  the  British  in 
New  York  ;  went  to  England  ;  settled  in 
Canada,  and  hecame  a  Judge  of  the  Su- 
preme Court,  188. 

Ogden  (Samuel).  Son  of  David  Ogden,  and 
father  of  David  B.  Ogden  ;  member  of  the 
Legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  and  of  the 
Convention  that  framed  her  Constitution  of 
17U0,  189. 

Olive  (Thomas).  Governor  of  West  Jersey  ; 
dispensed  justice  "  sitting  on  the  stumps  in 
his  meadows."  20. 

Ordinances  of  Governor  and  Council,  must 
look  to  them  for  the  Constitution  of  our 
Courts,  after  the  Surrender,  42. 

Ordinance  of  Lord  Cornbury,  the  foundation 
of  our  whole  judicial  system,  42;  its  provi- 
sions, 43,  et  seq.  ;  not  to  be  found  in  the 
books  o*^  Commissions  in  the  othce  of  Secre- 
tary of  State,  47  ;  a  copy  of  it  found  in  the 
State  Library,  50 ;  probably  framed  by 
Roger  Mompesson,  ib. 

Ordinance  of  George  II.,  not  the  foundation 
of  the  jurisdiction  of  our  Courts,  47;  little 
more  than  a  copy  of  the  original  ordinance 
of  Lord  Cornbury  ;  continued  in  force  but 
a  single  year,  48. 

Oyer  and  Terminer  (Court  of)-  Its  first  estab- 
lishment in  West  Jersey  ;  of  whom  com- 
posed, 26. 


Parker  (James).  Prints  "The  New  Ameri- 
can Magazine,"  157. 

Venn  (William).  Assists  in  the  preparation 
of  the  argument  against  the  customs  at  the 
Hoarkills,  but  probably  not  the  sole  author 
of  it,  32,  note;  his  letter  to  James  Logan, 
recommending  Roger  Mompesson,  .58;  e.x- 
tracts  from  other  letters  of  his  to  Logan, 
59,  note  ;  presides  at  a  trial  for  witchcraft  in 
Pennsylvania,  103.  note. 

Venn  and  Mead  (Trial  of).  At  the  Old 
Bailey,  for  preaching  to  a  tumultuous 
assembly,  29,  note. 

Perth  Anihny.  Named  in  honor  of  the  Earl  of 
Perth,  13  ;"  a  favorite  project  of  the  Proprie- 
taries, 14,  note. 

Petit  (Charles).  Employed  by  the  owners  of 
the  tea  destroyed  at  (Jreenwich,  179. 

Pkiladclphiff.  (Lawyers  of).  Hold  a  meeting 
upon  the  subject  of  the  Stamp  Act,  103  ; 
but  three  individn.als  in  favor  of  carrying  on 
business  without  stamps,  1('>4. 

Pi'nAorne  (William).  Originally  a  merchant 
in  the  city  of  New  York  ;  hecaitie  a  member 
of  Council,  and  a  Judge  of  the  Supremo 
Court  in  that  Province  ;  removes  to  New 
Jersey,  74  ;  is  ajipointed  Second  Judge  of 
the  Supreme  Court  ;  his  oonnexion  with 
Roger  Mompesson,  75 ;  signs  the  address 
from  the  Lieutenant  Governor  and  Council 


to  the  dueen  ;  is  denonnced  by  the  Assem- 
bly in  unsparing  terms,  76 ;  their  address 
however  to  be  taken  with  some  grains  of 
allowance,  77  ;  acts  as  Governor  upon  the 
removal  of  Lieut.  Governor  Ingold-by ;  is 
superseded  by  the  arrival  of  Governor  Hun- 
ter, 79 ;  his  removal  from  the  (Jouncil,  80, 
note ;  retires  into  private  life,  81 ;  his 
death,  82. 

Pinlwrne  (John).  Son  of  William  Pinhorne, 
an  Attorney  at  Law  and  Clerk  of  the  House 
of  Assembly ;  did  not  long  survive  his 
father,  82. 

Povip/ircy  (Walter).  Indictment  against,  for 
speaking  seditious  words  of  Lord  Cornbury, 
53  ;  relumed  with  an  ignoramus  ;  an  In- 
formation filed  against  him  for  the  same 
oftence,  .54  ;  tried  and  a  verdict  of  guilty 
rendered,  but  the  Court  did  not  dare  to  pro- 
nounce judgment,  55. 

a 

Quakers.  Settlement  of  West  Jersey  by,  31  ; 
Lord  Cornbury's  attacks  upon  them,  00 ; 
their  reply  to  him,  69  ;  controversy  with  re- 
gard to  accepting  their  affirmation,  in  lieu  of 
an  oath,  93  et  seq  :  the  same  question  pro- 
duced serious  difficulties  in  Pennsylvania, 
90.  note. 

Quaker  legislation.  First  essay  of,  to  be 
found  in  the  West  Jersey  Concessions,  31, 
note. 

Q««/r7/ (Robert).  Signed  the  address  of  the 
Lieut.  Governor  and  Council  to  the  Queen, 
justifying  the  conduct  of  Lord  Cornbury  ; 
a  member  of  Council  in  five  of  the  Colonies 
at  one  time,  70,  note. 

R 

Rend  (Charles).  Succeeds  Robert  Hunter 
Morris  as  Chief  Justice ;  recommended  by 
Lord  Stirling  ;  holds  the  ofTice  but  a  few 
months  ;  consents  to  take  again  the  place  of 
Second  Judge,  which  he  had  previously 
held,  158. 

Read  (George).  Of  New  Castle,  one  of  the 
counsel  retained  on  behalf  of  those  concerned 
in  the  destruction  of  the  tea  at  Greenwich, 
180. 

Ucnding  (John).  Upon  the  death  of  Gov. 
Belcher,  he  became  entitled,  as  the  first 
named  of  the  Councillors,  to  act  as  Gover- 
nor; was  reluctantly  prevailed  npon  to  as- 
sume the  duties,  151. 

Read  (Joseph).  Appears  at  the  bar  of  the 
Assembly,  to  plead  the  cause  of  the  lawyers 
of  New  .Fersey  ;  became  Adjutant  General 
of  the  Continental  army,  a  member  of  Con- 
gress, and  President  of  the  Executive  Coun- 
cil of  Pennsylvania  ;  his  noble  reply  to  the 
olfcr  made  to  him  upon  condition  of  his 
effecting  a  reunion  between  the  Colonies 
and  the  Crown,  108  ;  born  at  Trenton,  ed- 
ucated at  Princeton,  read  law  with  Richard 
Stockton,  pursued  his  profession  for  some 
years  in  New  Jersey,  and  then  removed  to 
Philadelphia,  108,  note. 

Regulators,  in  North  Carolina,  take  np  arras 
to  e.iterminate  lawyers  :  in  the  Revolution, 
most  of  them  enlisted  under  the  king's  ban- 
ner, 173, 
Revell  (Thomas).  One  of  Lord  Cornhnry's 
Council ;  signed  the  address  of  the  Lieut. 


21 


310 


INDEX. 


Governor  and  Council  to  the  Glneen,  70, 
note. 

Rhode  Island.  Burning  of  the  British  Schooner 
Gaspee,  by  the  Whigs  of:  Commissioners 
appointed  to  examine  into  the  aflair ;  con- 
tinued in  sessions  several  months  without 
procuring  any  evidence  ;  a  Court  of  Inquiry 
only  ;  the  "  Court  "  alluded  to,  in  the  ad- 
dress of  the  first  Congress  to  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Colonies,  174. 

Rush  (Dr.  Benjamin).  Of  Philadel])hia,  a 
pupil  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Finley,  lUJ  ;  one 
of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence ;  married  a  daughter  of  Richard 
Stockton,  199,  note. 

Rush  (Judge).  A  brother  of  Dr.  Benjamin 
Rush  ;  a  pupil  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  iinley, 
191. 

Hush  (Julia).  A  daughter  of  Richard  Stock- 
ton ;  married  to  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush  ;  died 
at  an  advanced  age  in  Philadelphia,  199, 
note. 

S 

Sandford  (William).  Signs  the  address  of 
Lieut.  Governor  and  Council  to  the  tiueen, 
justifying  Lord  Cornbury  ;  refuses  to  ac- 
knowledge his  fault,  70,  note  ;  is  expelled 
from  the  Assembly  in  consequence  of  it,  71. 

Saltar  (Richard).  An  associate  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  ;  recommended  by  Robert 
Hunter  Morris  as  his  successor  in  the  office 
of  Chief  Justice,  150. 

Seotch  emigrants  to  New  Jersey,  of  a  class 
superior  both  to  the  Dutch  and  English  ; 
many  of  tliem  men  of  family  and  education, 
80. 

Stiden.  Extract  from  his  "  Table  Talk,"  109, 
note. 

Sergeant  (Jonathan  Dickinson).  One  of  the 
counsel  on  behalf  of  those  who  were  con- 
cerned in  the  destruction  of  the  tea  at  Green- 
wich, 179  ;  born  near  Princeton  ;  a  gradu- 
ate of  the  College  of  New  Jersey  ;  read  law 
with  Richard  Stockton;  a  member  of  the 
Provincial  Congress,  and  one  of  the  com- 
mittee that  drafted  the  first  Constitution  of 
New  Jersey  ;  his  house  in  Princeton  burnt 
by  the  British  army;  made  Attorney  Gen- 
eral of  Pennsylvania,  and  removes  to  Phila- 
delphia; died  of  the  yellow  fever  in  1793  ; 
father  of  the  Hon.  John  Sergeant  of  Phila- 
delphia, ISO,  note. 

Sheriffs.  First  provided  for,  and  process  out  of 
tlie  County  Courts  directed  to  them,  12. 

Slavery,  in  New  Jersey  ;  never  did  it  exist  in  a 
milder  form,  131. 

Slave  Insurrection,  in  New  Jersey  ;  the  only 
instance  of  the  kind  recorded  in  our  annals, 
130  ;  in  New  York,  cruelties  attending,  131. 

Smith  (Samuel  Stanhope).  Vice  President  of 
the  College  of  New  Jersey ;  pronounces  a 
faneral  discourse  upon  Richard  Stockton  ; 
extracts  from  it,  200. 

Smith  (William).  Puts  his  name  to  the 
"answer"  to  the  Elizabethtown  bill  in 
Chancery ;  became  Chief  Justice  of  New 
York,  and  after  the  Revolution  Chief  Justice 
of  Canada,  121  ;  his  letter  to  Horatio 
Gates,  155,  158. 

Smyth  (Frederick).  The  last  Chief  Justice  of 
the  Colony  of  New  Jersey ;  his  appoint- 
ment, 159  ;  desires  the  members  of  the  Bar 


to  attend  him,  to  consult  about  the  Stamp 
Act,  160  ;  the  questions  which  he  proposes 
to  them,  with  their  answers,  161  ;  one  of  the 
Commissioners  to  examine  into  the  affair  of 
the  burning  of  the  British  Schooner  Gaspee, 
174;  a  firm  and  consistent  loyalist;  his 
charge  to  the  Grand  Jury  of  Essex,  175; 
presides  at  a  Court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer  in 
Cumberland,  and  charges  the  Grand  Jury 
strongly  upon  the  destruction  of  the  tea  at 
Greenwich,  180;  removed  to  Philadelphia 
when  the  Revolution  broke  out,  and  died  ' 
theie,  181. 

Sonmans  (Arent).  One  of  the  twenty-four 
Proprietors  ;  father  of  Peter  Sonmans  ;  shot 
by  a  highwayman  on  his  journey  from  Scot- 
land to  London,  84. 

Sonmans  (Peter).  Son  of  Arent  Sonmans  ;  a 
native  of  Holland  ;  educated  at  Leyden  ; 
succeeds  to  his  fatlier's  estates  in  New  Jer- 
sey ;  indicted  for  perjury,  tried  and  ac- 
quitted ;  the  Assembly  charge  that  he  owed 
his  escape  to  a  packed  jury,  84  ;  publishes 
a  vindication  of  himself  which  has  come 
down  to  us,  and  is  a  production  of  some 
vigor,  85. 

So7is  of  Liberty.  An  association  which  had 
sprung  up  in  most  of  the  Colonies  ;  in  favor 
of  setting  the  provisions  of  the  Stamp  Act 
at  defiance,  162  ;  uuite  in  a  written  request 
to  the  members  of  the  Bar,  that  they  would 
proceed  to  business  as  usual  without  stamps, 
163. 

Southard  (Samuel  L.),  Advocates  before  the 
Legislature  a  claim  made  by  a  remnant  of 
the  Delaware  tribe  of  Indians  ;  extract  from 
his  speech,  5,  note. 

Stacey  (Mahlon).  His  plantation  of  eight 
hundred  acres,  on  both  sides  of  the  Assan- 
pink,  purchased  by  William  Trent,  105. 

Stamp  Jict.  Measures  adopted  by  the  law- 
yers of  New  Jersey,  in  opposition  to,  159  ; 
their  example  followed  in  other  Colonies, 
160  ;  the  stamps  arrived  but  no  one  would 
purchase  them,  162  ;  another  meeting  of  the 
Bar,  and  the  resolutions  adopted,  163;  repeal 
of  the  Stamp  Act  render  further  proceedings 
unnecessary.  164. 

Stirling  (Lord).  Addresses  a  letter  to  Gov. 
Franklin,  recommending  Charles  Read  as  a 
suitable  person  for  Chief  Justice,  158. 

Stockton  (John).  Father  of  Richard  Stock- 
ton ;  a  liberal  friend  of  the  College  of  New 
Jersey  ;  presiding  Judge  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  of  Somerset.  190. 

Stockton  (Richard).  Born  at  Princeton  ;  great 
pains  bestowed  on  his  educatiim  :  sent  to 
the  academy  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Finley  at 
Nottingham  in  Maryland,  190  ;  received  the 
honors  of  the  first  commencement  of  the 
College  of  New  Jersey,  191  ;  reads  law  with 
David  Ogden  ;  pursues  his  profession  as 
Princeton  with  distinguished  success  ;  visits 
England,  192  ;  is  requested  to  make  a  per- 
sonal application  to  Dr.  Witherspoon  to 
solicit  his  acceptance  of  the  Presidency  of 
the  College  of  New  Jersey  ;  his  journey  to 
Scotland  for  that  purpose  ;  the  result  of  his 
visit,  and  his  agency  in  securing  the  services 
of  Dr.  Witherspoon,  193  ;  his  reception  in 
Scotland  ;  returns  to  America ;  is  made  a 
member  of  (.Council,  and  a  Judge  of  the  Sn- 
preme  Court ;  is  elected  a  member  of  the 
general  Congress,  19G  ;  is  present  during  tlie 


INDEX, 


311 


debates  which  preceded  the  Declaration  or 

Independence;  expresses  his  concurrence  in 
the  measure  ;  puts  his  name  to  that  immor- 
tal instrument,  11)7;  his  residence  at  Prince- 
ton in  the  route  of  the  British  Army  ;  com- 
pelled to  fly  with  his  wile  and  children  ;  the 
place  of  his  retreat  discovered  by  a  party  of 
refugee  loyalists;  is  stripped,  plundered, 
taken  to  New  York,  and  thrown  into  a  com- 
mon jail,  198;  his  suilerings  call  lor  the  in- 
terposition of  Congress  ;  his  death,  199  ; 
leaves  two  sons,  Richard  and  Lucius  Hora- 
tio, who  became  eminent  lawyers,  and  four 
daughters,  199,  note ;  his  character,  as 
drawn  by  Dr.  Smith  in  his  funeral  discourse, 
201). 

Stockton  (Mrs.).  The  wife  of  Richard  Stock- 
ton, and  sister  of  Elias  Boudinot  ;  a  woman 
of  a  cultivated  mind,  and  of  fine  literary 
taste;  the  writer  of  a  number  of  poetical 
effusions,  199,  note. 

Supreme  Court.  Its  jurisdiction  defined  by 
Lord  Cornbnry's  ordinance;  has  remained 
without  change  to  the  present  day,  44  ;  two 
Supreme  Courts  established,  one  for  East 
and  the  other  for  West  Jersey,  48  ;  object  of 
this  arrangement ;  did  not  continue  many 
years,  49,  note  ;  early  minutes  of,  50  ;  first 
Session  of  the  Court,  and  some  of  its  early 
proceedings,  51,  ct  seg. 

Surrender  of  the  government  to  the  crown  ; 
motives  which  led  to  it ;  the  surrender  abso- 
lute and  unconditional,  but,  by  the  instruc- 
tions to  Lord  Cornbury,  the  rights  of  the 
Proprietors  in  the  soil  were  confirmed  to 
them,  40,  note. 


Tea  (Destruction  of).  At  Greenwich,  in  the 
County  of  Cumberland,  178  ;  suits  brought 
by  the  owners  ;  the  whigs  of  the  County  re- 
solve to  raise  money  for  the  purpose  of  de- 
fending them,  179  ;  never  brought  to  trial, 
180;  the  Grand'  Jury  refuse  to  find  indict- 
ments against  the  individuals  concerned, 
181. 

Thanksgiving  days,  appointed  by  act  of  As- 
.sembly  in  East  Jersey,  209. 

Thomas  (Gabriel).  Noiice  of  his  History  of 
Pennsylvania  and  West  New  Jersey,  22, 
note. 

Townlr.y  (Richard).  Signed  the  address  of  the 
Lieut.  Governor  and  Council  to  the  Q,ueen, 
justifying  Lord  Cornbury,  70,  note. 

T^cnt  (William)  A  native  of  Scotland  ; 
came  to  this  country  at  an  early  day,  and 
settled  at  Philadelphia ;  Jndge  of  the  Su- 


preme Conrt  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Speaker 
of  the  House  of  Assembly,  105  ;  purchases 
Mahlon  Stacey's  plantation,  and  removes 
to  New  Jersey  ;  represents  the  County  o 
Burlington  in  the  Assembly,  and  is  made 
Speaker  of  the  House  ;  appointed  Chief 
Jnstice  of  the  Supreme  Court  ;  his  sudden 
death,  lOG  ;  Trenton  is  named  after  him  ; 
he  presents  to  the  County  the  lot  on  which 
the  first  Conrt  House  was  built,  107. 

Trenton.  Capital  of  the  State  ;  named  after 
William  Trent,  106  ;  originally  called  "  Lit- 
tle Worth,"  107. 

Tucker  (Samuel).  President  of  the  Conven- 
tion which  framed  the  Constitution  of  the 
State ;  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of 
Safety  ;  takes  a  protection  from  the  British  ; 
is  active  in  fomenting  complaints  against 
the  lawyers  ;  had  been  Sheriff  of  Hunter- 
don, 1G9  ;  is  charged  with  having  taken  ille- 
gal fees  ;  tried  by  the  Assembly,  of  which 
he  was  a  member,  and  convicted,  170. 

TurnhuU  (Thomas).  Information  against, 
for  speaking  scandalous  words  of  Lord  Corn- 
bury ;  complains  that  he  can  get  no  Attor- 
ney to  defend  him,  82;  Court  assign  him 
counsel,  who  advises  him  to  plead  guilty  ; 
sentence  of  the  Court,  83. 


W 

TVaddell  (Rev.  James).  A  ptipil  of  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Finley,  191. 

West  Jersey.  Courts  in,  24  ;  laws  in,  under 
Proprietary  goveinment,  205  et  seg.  ;  crinii- 
nal  code,  207. 

West  Jersey  Proprietors.  Concessions  of,  27 
ct  scg. 

Witchcraft.  No  prosecution  for,  has  ever  taken 
place  in  New  Jersey,  103  ;  trial  for  in  Penn- 
sylvania, at  which  Penn  presided,  ib.,  note. 

JVithcrspoon  (Rev.  Dr.).  Upon  the  death  of 
Dr.  Finley,  is  elected  President  of  the  Col- 
lege of  New  Jersey  ;  Mr.  Stockton  is  re- 
quested to  solicit  in  person  his  acceptance  of 
it ;  takes  a  journey  to  Scotland  for  the  pur- 
pose ;  the  result  of  his  visit,  193  ;  the  diffi- 
culties which  at  first  prevented  his  accept- 
ance are  removed,  195  ;  espouses  the  cause 
of  the  Colonies  ;  is  chosen  a  delegate  to  the 
general  Congress,  sitting  in  Philadelphia ; 
the  instructions  under  which  the  delegates 
from  New  Jersey  acted,  196  ;  is  present 
during  the  discussion  of  the  question  of  In- 
dependence ;  his  reply  to  a  member  who  said , 
we  were  "  not  yet  ripe  for  a  Declaration  of 
Independence,"  198. 


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